


The New Age of Robin Hood

by koala13ghost



Category: Robin Hood (BBC 2006), Robin Hood - All Media Types, robin hood - Fandom
Genre: 2006 Robin Hood, Fight Scenes, Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, Kidnapping, My own characters in it, Overthrowing the government, but nothing major, kidnap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:28:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 31,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24728233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koala13ghost/pseuds/koala13ghost
Summary: Miles is a street rat struggling to survive, when he runs into the Nottingham Soldiers. After being forced to train as a soldier  everything he has ever believed comes into question. Should Miles side with the famous outlaws? Or should he stick on the side of the King Of England.
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there, I am aware that this is not the best work. I started writing this way back in 2015, when I was 13 years old and my god it was bad, but I am not going to go back and write it all again so I just decided to post it, the more recent chapters will be from this year and I am actually hoping to finish this piece finally. 
> 
> So keeping in mind that this was literally 5 years ago and I was only 13 don't be too mean. I would love some constructive feedback or literally any thoughts on the piece. 
> 
> Lots of love-Y

At first I had said no to the dog, it was just one more mouth to feed, more water to find in the summer, energy wasted on taking it for a walk, something else to worry about, one more thing I would have to stop getting in trouble. 

But Lilly had decided to keep him and once she had decided something there was nothing under the sun that would change her mind. 

Abe was his name, Abraham in the long, I definitely thought it was an odd name for a dog but Lilly liked it and I didn’t really mind one way or the other as long as he did was he was told and didn’t cause too much trouble. 

So we kept him, he did prove more useful than I had thought, caught the odd rabbit and the occasional wild pig, he even warded off possible thieves with his vicious barks that warned them not to come any closer or risk a bite. (Not that anyone would want to rob our house).

Abe was a brute of a dog, he had matted fur the colour of crumbling rust that Lilly had tried many times to comb through. Yellowed fangs dripped with saliva which could be seen when he snarled, which seemed to happen far too often, and on top of all that he was huge, well past my waist when sitting and at least four feet long. 

Sometimes I wish Lilly was a normal girl who liked bunnies and wearing dresses and sewing, the normal lady like things but alas she was not and it was not my place to say what she could and couldn’t do; instead she helped me hunt not with the killing or anything but she kept a good look out for the sheriff's men and looked after Abe when he was being a nuisance. 

The sheriff has been even more tight on who can hunt in the woods recently, she has three different patrols wandering the trees, on the lookout for poachers. 

They each carry swords which they used to cut off the left hand of any man they found hunting deer. This was the reason I had to be extra careful, if I lost my hand I would lose everything I would no longer be able to fight, to hunt, to make a livelihood, we would be dead before we stopped breathing. 

I would often find Lilly with ripped skirts from where she has been playing in the town or at the edges of the forest, as a result I had had to teach myself to sew, Lilly still doesn’t know these kind of things, most girls her age would be helping their Mother with the housework, they would know how to cook and clean, but not Lilly she had refused to do any of these things. She didn’t have any mother to help.

I don’t remember our Mother, and our Dad drank himself to death when I was eight. Left to look after my six year old sister, I had become the Mother, the Father and her brother all at the same time, I was forced to provide for us both.  
I learnt how to cook, how to mend clothes, how to hunt and not get caught, how to gut animals, how to start fires, how to sell food while leaving us enough for us not to go hungry, I learnt how to keep my head down and not draw attention to myself, a skill Lily has yet to learn. 

In Winter I have to find enough dry branches to make sure we have enough firewood to keep us both warm. Winters are the worst, most animals go into hibernation or have stored up enough food to keep from having to go outside. 

People tend to look away, pretending that their next door neighbours aren’t fifteen and thirteen years old. It’s amazing what people don’t see when they want to help themselves. 

But I’ve been looking after myself and Lily before I was even in double digits and we have survived. 

And right now I’m looking at the little scrap of paper that could essentially change our lives, a middle aged man in old leather had just nailed it up. 

Big words printed neatly on it read. 

SOLDIERS WANTED. For more information come to the castle at noon. 

To be honest I don’t really want to work as a soldier, the sheriff is a cruel woman who has direct connections to Prince John and I have no desire to protect her, but the pay would be good and it is the only job that would be so ready to accept a troublemaker. 

As long as I keep the fact that I avoid soldiers on a daily basis I should be okay, or that I should have lost both my hands, my feet and possibly my head by now. 

I had tried to get a job or apprenticeship with almost every shop in town, the fact that I break the law almost every day seemed to frighten these people, just enough they don’t want anything to do with me but not enough that they won't buy cheap meat from me. 

I’m thinking that maybe I won’t have to go hunting any more, that I won’t have to risk my life to feed myself and my sister, that maybe I’ll make enough money to have three meals a day, that maybe if I try hard enough I can get a promotion to Captain buy a new house one that isn’t falling apart at the seams, and we can have fires whenever we want, that the clothes we wear won’t be several sizes too small. 

But that was a lot of maybes and what’s to say that I even got the job to be honest why would they want a scrawny boy who is under fed and never taken orders in his life.

***  
There was a loud commotion behind me bringing me out of my fantasies, I jumped and spun around to see a group of five running through the market, pursued by at least twenty guards, they were running towards me, people jumped out of the way as they stormed through.

A sudden thought of stupidity flashed across my mind-if I could stop these people then maybe, just maybe I would be offered a position in the guard-and before I knew what I was doing I had stepped in front of the leader. 

He wasn’t much bigger than me and his clothes hung off his body, I didn’t notice the muscles under his shirt or that his friend behind him was well over six foot and built like a tree, I didn’t notice that the other three all looked like they knew how to fight or that they were all carrying weapons at their hips and bows on their backs. I did notice however that the guards behind them didn’t seem to be doing the best job into the entire world and that I felt stronger than I was. 

Armed with only my fists and some of my wits, I stood right in their way. The front one tried to step aside but I moved with him, hands on hips determined not to let them through. 

“MOVE” he growled in a northern accent, all my nerve suddenly disappeared and I knew that if I said something it would be gibberish. 

He glanced behind him to where the guards were only ten meters behind, they had stopped swords ready. 

The man had drawn his own sword ready to fight me, I would look like an idiot if I backed down now. 

The bigger man behind him stepped forward, looking quite threatening he cracked his knuckles “Robin said move”

His R’s rolled making his voice rather deep and throaty. 

Suddenly it dawned on me that I knew these five people, I had never met them before but everyone knew them. They were Robin Hood's gang, the sheriff’s biggest enemy constantly stealing from her, giving food and money to the poor, these guys were outlaws. People were supposed to hate them, anyone found aiding Robin would be executed. 

Inwardly everyone loved Robin, he stole from the sheriff who collected taxes from all of the townspeople. Everyone was starving with barely enough money to sustain themselves let alone pay these outrageous taxes that are forever increasing. 

A part of me wanted to step aside and let him pass, he was doing so much good and I have even accepted money from him a couple of times but if I did step aside I would be prosecuted as aiding Robin Hood and hanged, that is not a thing I really wanted to happen and if I did who would look after Lily, she would have to be married off to a man three times her age. 

So I stood my ground and raised my fists determined to not let them leave without a fight. 

“For the last time boy MOVE, and maybe you won’t get hurt” 

I swallowed my fear and shook my head 

“You are out laws you must be punished” I choked. 

The big man stepped forward a murderous glint in his eye. 

Robin stopped him with one hand “Don’t hurt him too bad John, he’s only a boy.”

John nodded and pushed his way forward. I took a step backwards all the while glancing around at the speculating crowd who all seemed to be looking anywhere but at me. 

He swung a punch and I stumbled out of the way, another fist came out of nowhere and it hit me in the side of the head. Dazed I fell sideways before regaining my balance and swinging a punch at the man, John blocked my frail hit and head butted me in the forehead.

I hit the cobblestones of the market hard, John's knees were instantly on my stomach making it hard for me to breath, John caught my arms and pinned them to the ground. I struggled and squirmed, John held on tight a strange sort of violent lust plastered on his face. 

I grunted but stopped struggling, it didn’t seem to be doing much good. He raised his fist ready to strike. I drew back getting as far away as possible from him. 

“Don’t get back up or I swear I won’t listen to Robin’s instructions” 

I swallowed my pride and nodded, I didn’t want to risk a broken nose. 

“Good” He growled.

And punched me in the face. 

I groaned in pain.“Y-you said...” 

But I was cut off by another fist to the face and then one more for good measure.  
“John stop it, you’ve taught him a lesson now let’s leave”  
John removed his large hands from my wrists, the weight of the man kneeling on my stomach came free and I could breathe again. I took a deep breath and began to cough. I rolled onto my knees gasping for breath, John kicked me down. 

“DOn’t stand back up”

Through half blurred vision, I could see him walk away, closely followed by Robin and the rest of his gang. 

The leader of the soldiers yelled, “You after them, you two stay here with me” 

A large majority of the men went after Robin but it was apparent that they would not be able to capture the outlaws. 

The remaining two stayed behind and stood next to their leader. 

I was looking up at them from the ground, my face was numb and there was a thick kind of syrupy feeling in my stomach. 

Not enough air was getting to my lungs and I felt light headed. 

“Get him up” demanded the head soldier. 

I was lifted up by the arms, only to sag in theirs, held up by their strength. 

“Who are you boy?”

Saliva was clogging up my throat preventing me uttering a word. 

The guard stalked closer until we were inches apart, I could feel his breath in my face like a hot breeze. 

I swallowed partly out of fear partly to clear my throat, I looked at the ground before saying “Miles, my name is Miles” 

I found my feet and shrugged at the guards, who held my arms tight, tight enough for me to wince in pain. 

“And where are you from Miles?”

He asked looking up at me. I was taller than him but he was bigger, he seemed to demand people to look at him and the authority washed of him like a wave. 

“Nottingham I’m from here I live in the eastern outskirts” 

The man rolled his eyes,“I didn’t want your whole life story. Follow me we’re taking him to the sheriff” 

“No” I said hoarsely “please no” 

I struggled in an attempt to wrench my arms free of the two grown up guards. I dug my heels into the ground as they dragged me to the castle.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My little child gets some help :)

The soldier on my right kicked one of my legs in. I buckled and crashed to my knees.   
Ice cold eyes stared at me from a golden throne, it was placed on a stage at the far end of the room. 

“Sergeant?” she snapped. 

Her ringed fingers clenched the armrests on the side of her,“This better be important I have better things to attend to than some snot nose boy who happened to break a small law” 

The Sergeant bowed to The Sheriff as did the two soldiers next to me. The soldier to my left grabbed me by the hair and pushed my head down in a bow.

I grunted in pain. 

“Sheriff, as you know Robin Hood broke into the castle” 

The Sheriff rolled her eyes   
“I do actually, is this all you wanted to tell me” 

It was less of a question and more of a statement 

“This boy stood in their way.” He paused “he didn’t win the fight, but he did what most people never do. He stood up to Robin Hood allowing our men more time to catch up” 

The Sheriff glared at him 

“He obstructed the course of law, throw him in jail” 

I made a small choking noise “What?” I squeaked. 

She blinked at me   
“Throw him in the dungeon”

It took half an hour to get to my house, it normally only takes ten minutes to get there but we were walking at a snail's pace.

I couldn’t think of a single place on my body that didn’t hurt. My knees ached, my knuckles were cracked, my feet sore, face bloodied and bruised, shoulders could barely hold the weight of my arms. 

As we neared my house the Sergeant looked confused if not slightly worried 

“This is where you live?” He asked looking around at the houses skeptically  
“Yeah it’s just down this road”

As we continued down the street, it got increasingly more cracked and bumpy, with the road went the houses, none of them had windows, all of them bordered up, doors were kept in place with only one hinge barely keeping it in place, many didn’t have doors but where covered by thin sheets of cloth. The roofs were thatched and many had holes that had been feebly patched. 

Children played in scruffy clothes, yelling excitedly to each other when the pig bladder ball went over the fence into someone's garden. The excitement was quickly lost when they saw us.   
A soldier in this part of town surely meant trouble, as they were rarely ever seen and when they were it was only ever for taxes. Worried parents emerged from houses, ushering their kids into the safety of the walls. 

A hoarse laugh broke from my mouth, this would surely get the townspeople talking as this was all they ever seemed to do. Gossip was big thing in a small town, everyone knew everyone else's business. 

By the end of the day I would have probably be having an affair with the sheriff and was the father of her secret child, this soldier had found out and had taught me a lesson but was now taking me home to take my sister as his wife. 

The sergeant looked at me confused, “What’s funny?”   
“Oh” I said shocked that he would want to know what I had been laughing about, “N-nothing it’s just I was thinking how this must look to everyone else” 

He chuckled though I wasn’t sure if he was just humoring me. 

We rounded the last corner that lead to my house, it’s the only house on this road, it stood right at the end looking strangely like a haunted house, it was in the loosest terms a house, it had four corners a roof -well most of a roof- and people lived in it so yes it was a house, some might have described it as a shack. 

Long green grass stood three feet high, the only indication that there was a path was that there was a thin strip of flattened grass. The house itself was brown, long ago it had been painted white but the paint was peeling of the walls, there was two windows both bordered up, one on either side of the door, which was thick but crumbling and it didn’t open. 

To get in you had to climb through the window. Inside was no better, there was three rooms. One of which didn’t have a roof. There was a room that we used as the kitchen, it had two buckets one for collecting water and the other for washing in. 

There was three piles of compacted dirt in the middle one a long rectangle and the other two small squares. That was our table and chairs.   
In the corner there was the fire pit where we cooked our food and tried not to freeze to death in the winter. The other room had the sturdiest roof and let in the least amount of rain. There was another fire pit a bit smaller than the other it stopped us freezing in our sleep. Our ‘beds’ were two rectangle piles of dirt covered in hay and dried grass. 

With the clothes that we had grown out of and bits of cloth that we had managed to scavenge from neighbours I had sewn together what one might call a blanket it barely made any difference but it was better than sleeping with nothing over you. 

The toilet was out the back, I had made it one winter when we had gotten sick of taking our dumps in the forest. It was a small thin cube, inside there was a chair with a hole in the bottom that led to the castles personal sewers. I had just meant to dig a hole that we would have to empty but I had hit stone and got interested, it took me a week to chip my way through it but it was worth it. 

The Sergeant looked slightly disgusted like it was the worst thing he has ever seen, but to be truly honest with you it probably was.   
“This is where you live?” 

He asked astounded I nodded, “Yeah, it’s not much and it seems to be getting worse everyday but it’s home, you just have to go through the grass” I said responding to his confused look. 

He practically carried me through the grass. The Sergeant set me down on my feet and I leaned against the walls which on second thought mightn’t have been the best idea as I heard them creaking dangerously. 

The Sergeant tried the door 

“Locked” he confirmed before trying to look for another way in. 

“Do you have the key?” he asked. 

I shook my head 

“Then how are we supposed to get in?” 

I shrugged “That door hasn’t opened in years we have to go through the window” 

The Sergeant looked appalled, “You can’t even go through your door?” 

“Yeah, but what did you expect have you seen the look of this place” 

The Sergeant shook his head a look of astonishment on his face, “But you can’t seriously be living in this dump it’s unhygienic, you could catch a death living here no one can live in this kind of place it’s inhumane” 

I scowled, “Hey! Watch what you’re saying about my house it’s not as bad as it looks it’s kept us alive for eight years” 

The sergeant gave a sigh, “It just gets worse and worse, where are your parents” 

I grinned the older man’s horrified fascination was in some weird way humourous, I wasn’t used to people asking about us, everyone in town already knew. 

“My Mum died when I was a baby and my Dad died when I was eight” 

“And you’ve been living here since then, who’s looked after you?” 

“I did” 

“Nobody's ever offered for you to live with them?” 

“Have you seen the people who live around here? They can barely keep themselves afloat let alone have two other hungry mouths to feed” 

The sergeant was silent for a moment “Wait?... hold up… two of you?” 

“Yeah I have a sister she’s thirteen” 

“So you’ve been looking after and providing for not only yourself but your sister as well?” 

I nodded “Ah speaking of the devil” 

Lilly appeared in the window, “I thought I heard someone talking” 

Abe jumped up on the window sill. 

She suddenly noticed who I was with and what I looked like, “What happened to you?” she asked completely ignoring The Sergeant “And what is he doing here?” 

I rolled my eyes “Help me in and I’ll explain” 

Lilly opened the window as far as it would go and pulled Abe out of the way. 

She grabbed one of my arms while The Sergeant lifted my good leg, together they managed to get me in the house. 

The Sergeant hopped in effortlessly behind me, he looked around the dank room it was the one without the roof we didn’t really use it except for entering or exiting the house. 

I looked at The Sergeant who looked even more horrified that not only one person could live here but two. The room without a roof did look a bit like an overgrown swamp. 

Lily took over from The Sergeant and helped me onto the other room, even though it was clear she was struggling to hold my weight. The Sergeant followed awkwardly behind us. 

Lily tried to carefully place me on my bed but she slipped and I fell hard onto the dirt. I groaned in pain, Lily gave a little yelp of shock, The Sergeant rushed forward to help. Lily pushed him away aggressively 

“It’s fine I’ve got him” she growled. 

She went to the small door to the kitchen. She came back staggering under the weight of a bucket full of water. 

The Sergeant looked as if he wanted to run forward and help, but he knew the help would not be wanted. 

She knelt down beside me and plunged her hand into the bucket, she drew out a small tired cloth that had been worn thin over many years of use. Lily wrung it out and began to pat my face, I laughed.

“Lily what are you doing?”

She looked at me confused, “I’m cleaning you up”

I looked up at her, she looked concerned but not particularly worried, we had been through alot together and we had always gotten through it, this was nothing particularly out of the ordinary. 

“You’re not doing a very good job” I chuckled, 

She looked at me with a mock wounded expression, “Well I’m sorry but I’m not exactly used to this” 

“Yes, I am aware of that it’s usually the other way round” 

The Sergeant looked at us, an almost pitying expression was flickering across his face. I tried to ignore him, I didn’t want his pity we had survived long enough without it and we didn’t need it now. 

The Sergeant sat awkwardly beside me, Lily was caressing my face with the rough cloth, he rolled his eyes and carefully took the cloth from her hand. She looked startled and began to grab it back. I smiled at her, and gently held her hand allowing the Sergeant to take it from her reach. He dunked the cloth back into the bucket, before twisting it to get any access water from the material. 

“Close your eyes boy” He said gruffly but it was lined with kindness.

I did as he said and closed my eyes. A few seconds of nothing before the cold dampness of the cloth touched me. The Sergeant wiped gently, clearing my face of dirt and blood. Water trickled   
down my cheek and dripped onto my shirt. 

“There” came the Sergeant's voice from somewhere in front of me “All cleaned up” 

I opened my eyes. “Thank you” I said gratefully. 

The Sergeant said nothing. He patted his pockets looking for something, he found it and pulled out a short metal stick and a flat thin piece of metal. 

“Here, it’s not much but it’s all I have right now” he said handing it to Lily, who took it cautiously.

“What is it?” she asked 

“It’s a fire starter, you hit them together in such a way that it creates sparks that will start a fire”

Lily stared at it in wonder, I was also in awe. I had never seen anything like this how could this create fire it was only small, to be honest it looked quite boring. 

The Sergeant took the fire starter from Lily and flicked the two pieces of metal together, a flash of sparks erupted from where they met. Lily yelped and jumped back, I sat up fast and hit my head on the wall. 

“What was that?” Lily exclaimed bewildered after she had recovered from the initial shock. 

“It’s a fire starter” He said again “It makes sparks that will start a fire” 

Lily stared at it open mouthed, too stunned to speak. I rolled my eyes at her. “Could you pass it here?” I asked him. 

The Sergeant obliged and passed it to me.   
“It’s a common thing used with the guards, I would like you to have it” 

I looked at him with raised eyebrows.

“Are you sure? I mean this is amazing wouldn’t you get in trouble for giving to someone?” 

The Sergeant raised an eyebrow, “Who’s to say I gave it away?” 

I thanked him one more time for all his help. 

“I expect you at the castle at six o’clock next week bright, early and refreshed” and then he was gone.

The two guards obliged, although I could feel the hesitance in their actions. They grabbed me by the arms and began to lift me to my feet. 

The Sergeant panicked and spat out his words before they had fully formed, “I tho-ught t-that maybe he could become part of the guard...” 

The sheriff held up her hand, the soldiers stopped and brought me back to the foot of the throne. 

She leaned forward her beady eyes glaring down at me, I looked at my feet and fought the urge to shiver. 

I knew that if I didn’t play this right I would land my ass in jail without any thought of ever getting out. 

The Sheriff nodded to the Sergeant for him to continue 

“He has been humiliated by Robin, and he has showed that he’s not afraid to stand up to him and his gang, he can already fight a little and with the right training I think that he could be quite promising, I would like to take him and train him myself I would take complete responsibility” 

The Sheriff looked sceptical, “Would he need paying?”

“I can assume he would need a little pay” 

She took a breath, the Sergeant who was visibly flustered now 

“Well I suppose that he won't need paying” 

The sheriff looked sceptical 

“Plus you did have fliers nailed up around the city to say you wanted more guards”

“That” She said looking me up and down with disgust “was not what I was thinking”

The Sergeant looked exasperated. “What were you meaning, there are barely any able bodied men left” 

Her eyes hardened 

“And what do you mean by that?” 

“I-I’m just saying that this may be the best we’ve got” 

“I would have thought that Nottingham was better than this…. But if you are really adamant then you take him” 

The Sergeant looked relieved, he turned and nodded to the guards they released their grip on me, not expecting it, I collapsed to the floor. I sat there kneeling on the hard floor boards unable to move, by my sides my hands shook, partly out of fury but mostly I was tired. The beating was catching up with me and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep. But I doubted that was going to happen for a while. 

The Sergeant grabbed my angrily by the collar of my shirt. He dragged me to my feet and pushed me in front of him. 

I stumbled and fell into the wall, my legs gave out and I sagged to the floor exhausted. 

The Sergeant kneelt down beside me 

“You okay kid?” He asked quietly like he didn’t want anyone to overhear him being soft. 

I nodded “yeah,” 

The sergeant prodded the side of my face, bringing it closer to his, he studied me intently searching my face.

“No you’re not” He stated “you go home, have some rest, recover you had a nasty beating, come back at the end of the week, we can then start your training”

He helped me to my feet and steadied me against his shoulder.  
“Let’s get you home”


	3. Chapter 3

I sat on the steps that lead to the castle, it was freezing at this time in the morning. And I wasn’t exaggerating, the moat was frozen over, the grass had a thin layer of frost encasing it that when stepped on created a satisfying crunch. I sat with my arms wrapped around my knees, watching my breath swirl around my head. 

The last week had been quite relaxing, I had only gotten out of bed to go to the toilet. Lily had found wood for the fire, and using the fire starter The Sergeant had given us she had been able to light it with ease. As for food, there hadn’t been that much but she had used what little coins we had left to buy a bone. We had had a weak, watery meat soup. 

The bruises on my face hadn’t healed, I looked like a living blueberry. Harsh purple lumps covered the left side of my face, and dark splotches littered my ribs and the side of my stomach. Lilly had compared me to a rotten plum. 

I looked up as footsteps broke my train of thought. The Sergeant was making his way down the stairs, his feet echoing around the empty courtyard.

“Good morning” He said, all of the compassion that he had shown me the week before, gone. 

“Good morning” I replied, suddenly quite nervous. 

He nodded at me, approving but in a judgmental way. 

“From now on you will call me Sir, for everyone else you shall Miss, or Sir understood?” I nodded 

“Yes, Sir”

He motioned for me to stand up. I did, all of the heat I had retained vanished. Goosebumps formed on my arms and legs, but I restrained myself from shivering.

“The first thing to do is to show you around, after that we can start with the training” 

He walked off into the castle, I hurried after him. There was barely anyone awake, only the occasional person walking around blurry eyed. The Sergeant was shorter than me, even so, I had to walk faster than normal to keep up. 

We first went to the kitchen, it was spotlessly clean. Pots and pans hung from the ceiling, draws contained all manner of cutlery, large knives lay in big containers. 

“There is four main cooks” Said the Sergeant, he walked around inspecting the surfaces by running a finger to try and draw up dust. 

“Each cook has seven helpers, it’s normally very crowded in here” 

The Sergeant looked at his finger satisfied 

“Now I will show you the armoury, and then we will get started” 

He spun around and started to walk back up the stairs that lead to back to the main hallway when he stopped. 

“I am sorry, but I seem to have forgotten your name” I blinked not expecting to be asked a question 

“Well boy what is your name?” He asked impatiently 

“Oh, yes my name is Miles...Sir” 

“Right Miles, are you cold?” 

“Oh, well uh yeah I suppose I am” I stuttered and despite the temperature I felt my face burn. 

“Right come with me” 

When I didn’t follow, he sighed and grabbed me by the arm. 

“I have a son a bit bigger than you I have a jacket that he grew out of” 

I followed The Sergeant made his way around the castle and finally stopped outside a wooden door, he got a key that was hanging from his belt and unlocked the door. He stepped inside, letting it swing shut behind him. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to follow him in or wait out in the hallway. The door opened again to The Sergeant standing angrily 

“Do you always make it such of an inconvenience to be around you or are you doing especially for me?” 

I laughed nervously “I-I’m sorry sir I uh..” 

“Alright then come in see if it fits” 

This time he held it open and waited for me to go through before closing it. The warmth hit me like a comforting wave. It enveloped me, hugging my skin warming me to the core. The room gave of a homely feeling, a dozen candles lit the inside, giving it a golden glow. 

I stood by the door examining the room, it was a kitchen. A large oven, big enough to fit a large pig sat in the middle. A sink was next to it and a large surface that was used for chopping up vegetables. 

The Sergeant motioned with his hand for me to follow, he held up a finger to his lips telling me that I had to be quiet. I tiptoed over to where he stood. 

“My wife’s asleep and so are my children, if you wake them up you’ll have me to deal with” 

I swallowed and nodded. 

“Good, now wait here” 

He silently walked off, further into the house. I stood not knowing what to do, so I sat on one of the dining table chairs. I relaxed into the plush cushion suddenly exhausted. I usually don’t wake up until late in the afternoon, as I have no job and nowhere to be in the morning, every now and again I would have to get up early but that hadn’t happened in at least six months. 

The Sergeant very suddenly came back through the door, I stood up hastily knocking the chair backwards, it hit the floor. I cowered, inwardly swearing at myself for being so stupid. The Sergeant looked at me angrily.

“If that wakes any of my family up you have to run twenty laps of the castle” I nodded. 

“Sorry, I will pay better attention next time” 

The Sergeant harrumphed and pushed past me, his shoulder hitting me square in the chest. Once again outside he handed me the jacket. It was a bark brown, made of a thin well used leather. I put it on, it was warm with a smooth silk kind of thing and stuffed with something that felt like it could be feathers. It was several sizes too big but I could make do, the sleeves just covered my hands. 

“Right how does it fit?” He asked.

I smiled, “It’s great thank you” 

The Sergeant looked at me with satisfaction “Now you won’t be cold while you train, although you might not want it after six hours of exercise” 

“S-six hours?” I stuttered. 

The Sergeant chuckled “Well maybe more like five” 

The Sergeant cleared his throat, regaining his composure. “Right now let’s continue the tour then we’ll get you fitted with a sword” 

The Sergeant hurried through the rest of the tour, barely giving me any time to look at the rooms let alone remember where they were in the castle. Lastly we went to the armoury. From the outside it looked like a perfectly normal room, there was nothing to differentiate it from the rest. I was confused when we stopped outside it, The Sergeant had said that the castles armoury was the best in the country. 

“Sir? Are you sure this is it? It .. uh doesn’t look very you know.. scary” I asked doubtful. 

“Just wait” He said simply. A slight smile playing at his lips. 

The Sergeant produced a key from his belt, next to where he had kept his house key and unlocked the door. 

He smiled at me smugly, as if to tell me that he knew I would be eating my words. He pushed open the door and went in, I slipped in as it closed behind him. It took me a while to realise what I was looking at, it was a room that was obvious, but there was something wrong, the walls were shining and lumpy. The room seemed to give off a dull silver glow, it was too dark to make everything out but it was clear that the room contained lots of objects. 

Next to me The Sergeant fumbled around before finding what he wanted, then there was light. My eyes took a second to adjust and longer for my brain to register what I was looking at. Light glanced off swords, creating a shimmering effect that made my eyes hurt. Shields reflected The Sergeants flame, and the orange glow danced around the room. It was almost surreal. 

The Sergeant snorted obviously aware of the effect the room had on me.   
“It’s like this for everyone, especially the first time but now stop with the ogalling we’ve got to get you fitted with a suitable weapon” 

He walked over to the wall and proceeded to light the rest of the torches. The armoury was now bright and I could see what it contained. See I’m not usually a person for weapons, the only thing I’ve ever needed was a bow to catch animals but I wasn’t a particularly violent person, I’d never killed for fun, it was only ever to eat or to sell. And I’d never raised a weapon to a person. 

From the scabbard that hung by his side, The Sergeant pulled a shining sword. It was plain, the handle covered with wire that twirled around it from the base all the way to the guard. 

“This is my sword, she has protected me for many years. Without her I would have been dead many times over, she is the extension of my arm it feels natural to be holding her and I can feel safe when she is with me” 

The Sergeant held it up to the light examining it from all angles “If you were to give me a sword that was exactly the same in every way I would be able to tell that you had given me a fake”  
He looked at me with a type of serious intensity that made me wonder what had happened to him previously in his life. 

“Miles… you are to be a warrior, willing to fight for what he believes in. We are at war, not just in the midlands but right here against the outlaws, they are threatening our authority, our right to lead. They undermine us, they steal our money and our food. The money that is going to King Richard, to the troops that are keeping us safe, that are fighting for our freedom and safety. They risk their lives everyday so that we don’t have to die and they steal it for their own personal gain” 

I stared at him “But Sir? That’s not what I heard at all, I’ve heard they give out money to the poor and any food they collect they give it to starving families” 

The Sergeant narrowed his eyes and bent very close to me. “Where did you hear this?” 

I subconsciously took a step backwards “W-ell you know, i-it’s uh common knowledge around the towns, I-I’ve just heard..” I trailed off thinking the less I said the better. 

The Sergeant sniffed seeming content with my excuse, he straightened up. After pulling at the bottom of his tunic to get rid of any creases, The Sergeant re-sheathed his sword and looked at me, all of the slight affection that he had shown before gone. It was replaced with a kind of harsh distance that made me suddenly wonder if I had made the best choice when saying yes to joining the guard; to be honest now that I think about if I had been anything but cooperative I would have been beheaded. 

“Right we are going to start with a sword, this is what you will be fighting with the most, there will also be hand to hand combat there will be training with all manner of weapons but to start with the sword” I glanced at him unsure what to do next. 

“Well go on pick one” 

“Oh” I said shortly “I- well uh which one do I choose?” 

The Sergeant rolled his eyes “Just try a few, then decide on the one that feels the best in you hands. Once you have learnt to master that weapon you will receive a better, more balanced one, that is created specifically for you but now you will pick one from the armoury” 

I squinted into the dark, in the corner there was a sword rack. It held seven swords each looking relatively the same, each about three inches wide, thicker in the middle and sharpened to a point at the edges along with the tip that was a terrifying razor sharp point. I picked up the one that was closest to me. 

It was surprisingly heavy and my second hand quickly hushed to help. Even so the point fell towards the floor, the handle was covered in worn leather and the guard that shielded my hand from the sharp edges was small. 

I moved onto the next one hoping it would prove more fruitful than the last, but to my surprise it was just as heavy, if not heavier, than the last. I grunted as I tried to keep it from falling out of my hands and onto the floor. 

Quickly putting it back into the rack, I once again went to the next one, this time not expecting it to be any lighter but all the same a man could hope. 

It wasn’t. 

By the time it came round to the sixth sword I had all but given up hope. Until I picked it up. For starters it was much lighter, I still had to hold it with both of my hands but it was no longer a struggle to keep it from touching the floor. 

I glanced at The Sergeant who was looking at me attentively. I straightened up and held the sword out.

“This one” 

The Sergeant nodded agreeing “Alright we’ll get you a scabbard” 

From a cupboard in the corner The Sergeant pulled out a leather case, at the opening end there was a belt that would hold it to your waist. He handed it to me, I slid it in, it made no noise. The Sergeant indicated that I should secure it around my waste. I did and I instantly stumbled sideways under the weight. The Sergeant grabbed my shoulder to stop me from falling and rolled his eyes impatiently.

“Come on we’re wasting daylight” 

The next place we went was were we spent the rest of the day. It was a large field surrounded by a wall of wood land. There was no one around. The grass was encased in a thin layer of sparkling frost, and a biting cold breeze ruffled my hair. 

The Sergeant seemed unfazed by the temperature, he drew his sword and nodded his head towards mine indicating that I should do the same. 

I pulled it out, or at least I tried to. It was harder than it looked the weight of the sword along with the friction from the scabbard I struggled to take it out. 

The Sergeant waited impatiently, “Come on” He grumbled. 

I finally managed to drag it out and held it in front of me. The moisture from the grass was leaking through my boots and chilling my feet. I wiggled them to try and retain some warmth, it didn’t work. I looked glumly at the Sergeant, wishing for the fire at home. 

“The art of sword fighting is to think of it like a dance, the most dangerous dance that you’re ever going to take part in. I like to say that it is like a tango with an uncooperative partner”

I didn’t know what a Tango was but it didn’t sound fun.

“Sword fighting is elegant, beautiful, deadly.” 

He lunged at me, I yelped and stepped out of the way 

“Good reflexes at least, now I will show you and we will practice till you throw up or you drop dead”

I gulped, shocked. The Sergeant laughed deep and throaty “I’m just kidding boy, lighten up” 

I grinned nervously. The Sergeant swung at me, I ducked. 

“Hey!” I said taking a step backwards. “You could have killed me!” 

The Sergeant shook his head grinning. He swung again, and again each time advancing on me step by step. Each time the sword swung past my eyes I subconsciously took a step back. 

“Put your sword up and fight boy” The Sergeant barked. 

I shakily brought my sword up to my face. 

“Stop hiding behind it, if you want to be a warrior you’ve got to learn how to fight but to learn how to fight you must be confident enough to strike back. So take a swing at me” 

I got the impression that he was losing his patience with me and I didn’t want to get him angry on the first day. I raised the sword higher and I noticed the tip was shaking. 

I brought it back like a bat and swung at his stomach. 

The Sergeant took a lazy step to the left, the momentum of my swing sent me flying past him and I ended up sprawled in the dirt. I stood up and rubbed my ass, the ground was bloody hard. 

And now my clothes were wet, “Great” I mumbled brushing the dirt of my pants. 

“Come on that was the first of many falls, go again but this time don’t put so much length in it you want short sharp hits that have a lot of power behind it that way you can wear your opponent down” 

I lifted my sword again more determined to do a better job. It was already starting to get heavy and there was a throbbing sensation in my shoulders and lower back. 

This time I went fast and attacked with no warning, still The Sergeant blocked it with ease he didn’t even bother raising his second arm. One more time I hit at him, putting all of my strength into that single hit. 

Even so, The Sergeant was hardly even fazed. He actually yawned. 

I felt a surge of anger and charged at him point on, he deflected my attempt and with a simple flick, then hit me in the small of my back with the flat side of his sword. I grunted but refused to let him see he had affected me. 

I narrowed my eyes, breathing hard. 

We stood there in silence for a half a minute, The Sergeant looked at me and I looked at him. He was standing one hand behind his back the other holding his sword out front, he looked relaxed and poised but also ready attack at any moment. 

I was coiled like a spring, all of my muscles clenched and ready to go, I knew I was no match for this man but I was annoyed at how easily he could better me.   
The Sergeant visibly tensed looking like he was going to come at me. Very suddenly almost like my body had a mind of its own I lurched forward and hit The Sergeant with a volley of blows. It was almost like he was expecting all of them, like somehow he had seen into the future and knew exactly what I was going to do. 

With almost purposely slow movements The Sergeant blocked every one of my attempts to break through his defence. 

He seemed to be mocking me, trying to make me angry. 

Trying to make me angry. 

Suddenly it all made sense, he was making me angry on purpose. I took a deep breath and tried to calm the irritation that was pushing its way up from its hibernation. I gritted my teeth and slowed my breathing. 

The Sergeant smiled “It took you awhile but finally you understand, you will never ever win a fight if you are angry, no matter how good a swordsman you are. You must be at peace with yourself, never let your opponent get the better of you just let it roll off you like water on a duck’s back. We will try again, you will stay calm. I will fight back this time and we will see what you can do” 

He backed up a couple of paces and swung his sword in a figure eight. The sword was so heavy I could barely hold it higher than my waist.

“Come on you can’t fight someone with your sword all the way down there” 

I brought it up. 

“No, not like that come on hold it how I am” 

I tried to mimic his stance. He was holding it to his right in line with his arm. It was difficult and my entire arm began to shake slightly as I held it. This time he came at me first, I didn’t even see him move but suddenly a sword was coming towards me, I barely had enough time to step back before the deadly steel went soaring past inches from my eyes. 

I swung at him, he stopped it. 

The force of the sudden halt sent me sprawling into him, The Sergeant grunted under my weight but held me up using his sword. He glared at me, and pushed me backwards I went sprawling in the dirt. 

Winded, I gasped for breath.   
The Sergeant loomed over me, a gloomy shadow, “Get up, this is no time to be resting you don’t deserve a break. You may stop when you get better” 

I wheezed and rolled over onto my hands and knees. The Sergeant grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled my to my feet, I leaned on my sword and coughed. The Sergeant stood there impatiently while I caught back my breath. 

“It’s harder than it looks ay boy?” 

I nodded. 

“It will get easier, now sword up” 

The Sergeant rushed forward and was midway through swinging his sword before I had even raised mine. I managed to get the tip up in time, but the Sergeant’s blow idly knocked it out of the way. The sword twisted sideways, unable to hold it any longer I dropped it. 

The point buried itself deep into the ground, swaying back and forwards. I went and grabbed the handle in an attempt to pull it out but it was stuck fast. 

Suddenly I felt a cold point under my chin, I turned and looked at The Sergeant who was holding the tip of his sword at my throat. 

“Sir?” I said shakily. 

If looks could kill then I’d be dead and The Sergeant would be hanged for murder. I didn’t back away but instead held my ground and held The Sergeant’s unwavering gaze. He wouldn’t kill me. 

Would he? 

“You never drop your sword, ever, dropping your sword means you’re dead, there is no way you can win a fight if you have no sword. If you drop it one more time I swear I will have you running laps until you can no longer feel your legs. Is that clear!”

I nodded “Yes Sir” I said sounding a whole lot braver than I felt. 

I gripped the sword with both of my hands and tugged until it came free. 

“And again we will practice until you are not as useless as you are now” 

I inwardly groaned but didn’t say anything thinking it better to just keep my mouth shut. 

By the time we finished practicing, the sun was high in the sky and I was sweating like a pig. The jumper The Sergeant had given me was long ago strewn on the grass which was bone dry and crunchy under my now bare feet which were covered in a thin brown layer of dirt. 

There was a couple other groups of people training and a large group of guards running around the outside of the field. The Sergeant was barely even breathing hard and a light sheen of sweat on his forehead was the only indication that he had just done hours of exercise. 

My arms were shaking and I could hardly hold my sword. “Alright boy that’s enough have a break” 

I nearly dropped my sword but then remembered The Sergeant threat and thought better of it. I collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily. I was exhausted, I thought I was in alright shape but now I realised that I was not and that I would have to become a whole lot fitter.


	4. Chapter 4

As the day came to a close it became cooler, the sun ducked behind a tree like it was playing hide and seek. The sweat that was covering my body quickly dried and soon I was shivering. I was truly exhausted and my hands shook even when not holding the sword. We’d stopped briefly for lunch, it had been the best meal I’d had a long time. I’d shoved as much food as I could into both of the pockets to take back for Lily. 

The Sergeant straightened up panting. He sheathed his sword. “Go have a rest, you finally deserve it.” 

I collapsed to the ground breathing heavily. My sword lay next to me, I didn’t want to look at ever again. The Sergeant walked over to me and extended his hand to help me up. I took it gladly, and he pulled me to my feet. 

“Hey kid, you’re too skinny for your own good. And the Mrs’ always makes too much I was just wondering if you wanted to come and have dinner with me and the family?” I hesitated a moment before shaking my head 

“No sorry I’ve gotta get back to Lily she’s probably already worrying about me it wouldn’t be fair”

The Sergeant nodded understanding “Fair enough, see you tomorrow you don’t have to be here so early maybe about seven. How about tomorrow? Lily can come tomorrow if she likes” 

“Thank you sir” I nodded awkwardly. 

“Well see you tomorrow sir thanks for the offer goodnight” 

I began to walk away before The Sergeant called “Are you forgetting something?” 

I turned back “No, I don’t think so” 

The Sergeant looked at me like I was stupid, he bent down and picked up the jacket he had given me earlier in the day. 

“Jesus I’m suddenly suddenly wondering if it was the best idea to give you this if you’re only go to loose it in five minutes.” 

I laughed nervously “I’ll be careful next time, goodnight” I took the jacket from his outstretched hand and continued home. 

***  
By the time I got home the sun was barely still on the horizon. It created a bright orange hue that quickly turned to black. It was that kind of dark where you can still kind of see but only slightly and if you want to look at something properly you have to concentrate real hard and it hurts your head to do it. 

There was a small light emitting from our house, which was good. Lily wasn’t cold at least. I clambered through the window and into our sleeping room. Lily was asleep curled up on her bed, 

I was glad she hadn’t stayed up worrying but I was also a little annoyed she hadn’t waited up for me, or at least been slightly worried. I shook her awake probably more roughly than I should have. 

Her eyes snapped open. She freaked out and hit me on the chest. 

I grasped her hands to stop her from causing further harm to me. 

“Jesus Lily chill out, it’s just me.” 

For the first time her eyes adjusted and she realised who she was looking at. 

“Damit Miles you scared the life out of me” 

I let go of her wrists and sat down next to her. “I’m back, it was a long day but it was alright” 

She looked at me then looked at what I was wearing, “Miles?” She asked tentatively “Where’d you get the jacket?” 

I looked down “What? Oh I-” 

“Because you said that we had stopped stealing. You remember what happened last time you got caught and thrown in jail for a week” 

I chuckled “Chill out girl I didn’t steal it. It was given to me. Oh here now I did steal this but I don’t think it’ll be missed” 

From my pockets I pulled out the food I’d stashed. Two bread rolls, a large chunk of meat that was wrapped in cloth, some cheese and a couple of apples. The bread rolls were slightly stale but they were still probably still the best bread we’d had in many years. Lily’s eyes widened and she gasped. She snatched the bread from my hands and tore them open. 

I snatched one back. “Hey that’s mine” 

I got half the cheese and spread it evenly with my finger. I then bit the chunk of meat in half. I took the smaller half leaving the bigger side for Lily. I bit into my sandwich. I sighed it was amazing, I heard Lily do the same. I wolfed down half then decided to savour the second half. I finished before Lily and smiled as she enjoyed her little treat. 

When she’d finished I said “The Sergeant has invited us to dinner tomorrow if you want to come?” 

Lily looked wearily “Are you sure?” 

“He’s a good man, yeah maybe the first time you ever saw him he was dragging me half conscious behind him but he means well” 

I snuggled down on my bed. “Besides we can always use the food” 

Lily sighed and rubbed her stomach “Yeah sure I mean… okay” She lay down “Night Miles” 

She mumbled sleepily 

“Goodnight Lily” I lay down in my bed but I didn’t sleep. 

I stared at the roof. ‘This is a new beginning’ I said to myself ‘This is an opportunity for us to live a normal life. This is our way up this is a good thing’ Then why did I feel a strong feeling of regret settling itself in my stomach. 

In her sleep Lilly rolled over, she shivered. I sat back up and took off my jacket. Goosebumps popped up on my arm. I took a deep breath trying to retain my warmth. I stood up and lay the jacket over Lily’s fragile small body. Back on my bed I hugged my knees and tried to stop my teeth from chattering.   
***  
The next morning I met the Sergeant in the courtyard. He was standing in the middle with his hands sternly behind his back. For a second I thought I was late but I looked up at the sun it wasn’t yet above the highest tower so I knew I wasn’t. 

I walked up to him tentatively, weary of getting in trouble. 

“Good morning Sir?” I said. 

He grunted. Without saying a word he turned his back and walked away. Unsure of whether or not to follow him I stayed where I was. It took him several steps before he realised I wasn’t following him. 

He turned. Sighing, he swallowed his anger 

“Come on boy” He growled and stormed towards me “You are about as competent as a maimed aardvark” 

He waved me to follow him. I did. I didn’t know what an aardvark but it sounded stupid. I ground my teeth but didn’t say anything. We made our way to the training grounds unlike yesterday there was a small group of people already training. As we got to the same place we had been training yesterday The Sergeant turned to me and handed my sword, 

“We begin” he commanded. I drew my sword but stopped halfway. My muscles groaned, they were on fire from yesterday. 

“What are you waiting for?” The Sergeant snapped 

“Nothing sir” 

“Then get on with it” 

I pulled it out and tried not to grimace. The Sergeant stopped suddenly 

“Where’s the jacket I gave you?” He asked. 

Flustered I stumbled for an excuse “Uh um it’s not as- cold as it was yesterday sir” 

The Sergeant harrumphed content with my answer. The truth is it was freezing this morning but the fire had died out sometime in the morning. Lily had looked so small and cold there was no way I was going to take it from her. 

The Sergeant lunged and I brought my sword up to block him. Remembering what he said yesterday I attacked him with as much force as I could. He blocked with as much ease as if my sword was moving in slow motion. 

Unlike yesterday I didn’t get annoyed and instead took a deep breath and kept a level head. 

The Sergeant smiled “Good you remember what I said” 

After a few minutes of sparing my arms loosed up and stopped hurting. We fought well into the afternoon. He showed me a few new moves and then we practiced them until they were instinctual and I could do them with ease. 

We stopped for lunch when the sun was high in the sky, it beat down on us and I could feel my shoulders burning. A servant had brought us food and set it down under the shade of a big oak tree. I looked over at The Sergeant, he nodded I smiled and sheathed my sword. I made my way over to the tree, dragging my feet behind me. 

Once in the shade I slumped to the ground and lay there breathing hard relishing the cool grass underneath me and the much needed protection from the sun. 

I heard the Sergeant coming towards me, I inwardly groaned but I knew that I should stand for him. 

I did. 

“May I sit sir?” 

“It looks like you already did” 

I felt blood rush to my cheeks “Well-I ah” I mumbled. 

The Sergeant laughed “Of course you can sit boy, lighten up” I laughed nervously. 

The Sergeant slumped into the grass, on the way down he grabbed some food and started to eat. I made myself a sandwich and sat down next to him. For the next few minutes we sat silently as we filled our stomachs. 

“Sir?” I asked suddenly. 

I hadn’t even meant to open my mouth but I’d started to ask the question now and there was no backing out of it now. He grunted so I took that as a sign to continue 

“Why am I here?”   
The question caught the Sergeant by surprise because when he turned and looked at me it took a very long time for him to reply. His grey eyes pierced straight into my brain and I suddenly wished I hadn’t asked the question.

“Because you are a suitable young man and I think with the right training you could be one of our best” 

“That’s not what I meant” 

“Then what did you mean?” He growled it wasn’t meanly but it didn’t make me feel better about asking the question. 

“I meant what am I doing here? Why are you doing this for me I expect you have better things to be doing than getting up at six in the morning and training me. Why are you not letting someone who has nothing better to do, why am I here, what is the reason?” 

The Sergeant was silent for a long time and I thought for a moment that he wasn’t going to reply.

I had just about given up on a reply when he said “I don’t know. I just had this feeling that if someone else trained you they would do it wrong. Muck you up. I saw a huge amount of potential in you and I didn’t trust anyone else to do it so that is why you are here and that is why I am training you and not some prick that couldn’t care less if you improve or not” 

And with a great sigh he stood and walked away. I sat there until he got annoyed and yelled at me to hurry up.


	5. Chapter 5

We’d finished training ages ago, it had still been light then the sun had been low in the sky melting into the horizon. Now it was pitch black I could barely see Lily in front of me. 

I had had to go back home to get Lilly and by the time we’d got back the sun was completely gone.

Lilly had ditched the jacket and ran her hands through her hair trying to look at least a little bit presentable. 

We met the Sergeant in the courtyard, which was lit by glowing lanterns. He introduced himself to Lilly, who to a normal bystander would have looked normal and collected. But I knew she was flustered. He led us up to his house. 

Now I am sitting awkwardly opposite Lilly as we try not to shit ourselves. I stare intensely at Lilly trying to catch her eye but she was having a staring contest with her lap.   
A sharp lady with intense cheekbones was standing at the stove cooking something. The delicious smell wafted from the pot that was simmering on the stove and I couldn’t believe that we were actually going to be eating it. The only time I ever smelt something like this was when I was loitering outside a bakery or tavern hoping for a few scraps of food. I knew the Sergeant had a son and a daughter but they were nowhere to be seen. 

The Sergeant was standing next to his wife. She gave him a steely glance but he ignored her and I pretended I hadn’t seen it. 

The Sergeant went to the corridor and called down it. “Kids dinner’s ready” 

There was a long moment of silence before there was a pair of slow footsteps. A boy and a girl came hesitantly from the mouth of the hallway. The girl was about ten, she had straight blonde hair and a thin pinched face, a blue bow was tied neatly in her hair. A blue dress hung loosely off her body, it had no shape but it looked expensive. 

The boy was older, possibly older than me, he too had blonde hair but it was straight, he was wearing a pressed white shirt and long unpatched pants. His shoes were black and polished. 

He looked me up and down. I suddenly became very self conscious by the roughness of my shirt and the patches that littered our clothes. He sniffed, and sat down. I felt sick and suddenly wanted to grab Lilly and leave but I knew that would be exactly what the snobby boy would want, so instead I clenched my jaw and squared my shoulders, trying to give off an air of confidence. 

I lightly tapped Lilies foot with mine. When she didn’t respond I tried it again slightly harder. This time she looked up at me questioningly. 

I sat up straighter and raised my chin hoping she would get the message. She looked at me like I was out of my mind. I stared at her and raised my chin even further, pleading her with my eyes to understand. A look of realisation came across her face and she understood. She sat up straight a look of defiance of blazing in her green eyes. 

A wave of love washed over me and in that moment I had never been prouder of someone in my entire life. Against all odds she sat proud and strong not letting these kids get the better of her, not letting them know how scared she was or how intimidated they made her. I smiled at her trying to give her more strength, she smiled back but to me she still looked so small and fragile. 

The Sergeant sat at the head of the table. The blonde haired boy was sat on my left, next to his Father. The young girl sat opposite him.

Mrs Sergeant brought a gigantic pot filled to the brim of steaming brown liquid. She slammed it down onto the center of the table, I hoped it was because it was heavy but I knew it was because she was mad. I couldn’t tell from her face but I knew.   
The way she didn’t look at me or Lilly, the way she glared icily at her husband. I knew we weren’t wanted, we were too lower class for a woman like her. 

She sat down opposite her husband at the other end of the table. The Sergeant -who was either painfully unaware of what was happening or he just chose to ignore it- cheerfully said “Well dear this looks delicious, come on help yourself” and he picked up his bowl and ladled himself a hearty helping. 

One by one everyone helped themselves. I reached over the table and took Lily's bowl, I didn’t stop filling it until it was filled to the brim and spilled over the side. I then placed it in front of her. I didn’t take any for myself until Lilly had started to eat. 

I then helped myself to almost as much food as I’d given Lilly. I scooped up a large spoonful of steaming soup and blew on it until it didn’t look like it would melt my face off. It was gorgeous. Silky and smooth with a few chunks just to make it interesting, there was a creamy texture to it and it slid down my throat settling itself fondly in the bottom of my stomach. I didn’t stop until the last mouthful was scraped away. 

I looked up from my bowl, the Sergeants whole family had been watching Lilly and I eat they had hardly touched their food. We’d both finished our meals at the same time having wolfed down the delicious soup. The Sergeant looked appalled, a kind of horrified expression that he tried to hide. He didn’t do a very good job. Mrs Sergeant was smiling, it made her look younger, less bitchy. 

She obviously didn’t usually get that much enthusiasm about her cooking. 

The two children had near identical expressions, kind of disgust, but also interest like we were exotic animals in a zoo. I ground my teeth but managed to hold a polite smile. 

“So Mrs…?” I asked unsure of the Sergeants last name. 

Now that I thought of it I didn’t even know his first name. 

“Jones” She said still smiling.

“Well Mrs Jones that was absolutely amazing. I haven’t tasted something that good in many years” I smiled warmly at her. Opposite me Lily nodded enthusiastically. 

“Well son, have seconds, have as much as you want. Help yourself” 

Not needing to be asked twice Lilly and I helped ourselves to another bowl full. However instead of devouring it we ate it slower this time savouring the flavour. Mrs Jones struck up a conversation, her sour tone from before gone. 

“So, what are your names?” She asked. 

Lily looked over at me not sure if she should answer. I rolled my eyes at her and replied for us both. 

“My name is Miles and this is my sister Lilly” 

“Welcome Miles and Lilly, Miles you’re the young lad that my husband is training?” 

I nodded 

“He’s one of the best, a great teacher. He taught Jacob here to fight, they’re quite formidable swordsmen. Maybe you can be good enough to fight against Jacob one day” She said, it didn’t feel like she was boasting, it sounded just like she was stating a fact but I’m not stupid as she obviously thought we were and she was very clearly shoving her sons brilliance in my face. 

Again I nodded “That would be an honor Miss” 

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Jacob scowling at me but I ignored him. 

“Jacob wants to be a knight when he’s older but I think that’s far too dangerous, he’s got such a good brain he could very easily be a scholar I’ve made him stay in school when he wanted to go and join the army” 

A strange sense of anger began to bubble in the bottom of my stomach. The casual way she talked about her son dropping out of school, how nonchalantly she mentioned that he was better than me. I suppressed the urge to scream at her, tell her that I’d had to dropout of school when I was seven because we couldn’t afford it anymore. I want to tell Jacob how lucky he was for having a loving family. A luxury that Lily and I don’t have. But I swallowed my anger and glared into my soup. 

She continued to talk despite me showing her all the signs I wasn’t listening. 

“Miles?” 

I looked up from where I had been trying to set the tablecloth on fire. 

“What do you think?” She asked. 

I stared at her blankly, I probably should have been listening. I glanced over at the Sergeant for help but he just snorted and looked at his wife. 

“Uh Iiiiiiiiiiiiii-” I dragged out the ‘I’ trying to figure out her opinion on it, she seemed to be scowling so I said “Hate it” 

Mrs Jones nodded approvingly “Yes everyone hates Robin Hood” She spat out his name like it was poison in her mouth. “Henry here is one of the main men assigned to captering the outlaw” 

‘He’s not doing a very good job’ I thought laughing silently to myself. 

Robin Hood, originally Robin of Locksley. Everyone knew his story. He’d come back from serving five years at war, he’d supposedly been a personal guard to King Richard himself. After coming back he hadn’t been himself and done some very illegal things. 

What it was exactly I’m not sure but I knew it wasn’t good. He’d gone into hiding in the Sherwood Forest, he’d famously recruited a band of outlaws who called themselves ‘The Merry Men’ but they didn’t seem very merry to me. 

With my brief but disastrous run in with them last week and the reputation they have, they seemed down right dangerous. They stole from the Sheriff of Nottingham regularly and gave many of their spoils to the poor, up until recently I’d regarded them highly, now I’m not so sure. 

Mrs Jones sighed and stood up “I just hope they get caught soon, they’ve caused enough trouble. Anyway why don’t I go and get dessert?” and she went off to the kitchen. 

The Sergeant wiped his mouth with his napkin before throwing it on the table and getting up to help his wife. The second his Father went around the corner Jacob moved his chair closer to mine. 

“What’s your deal?” he asked.

“Excuse me?” 

“I said what’s your problem? You just waltz in here and my parents instantly love you, who do you think you are? I’ve been training to be a knight for six years now and I still haven’t got my father's blessing. How long have you been training?” He looked me up and down “By the looks of you not very long” 

I squared my jaw and looked him straight in the eye “Two days, your father picked me personally.” 

Jacobs face fell, “Personally?” He whispered. 

I nodded cockily “Personally”   
His eyes darkened and he looked dangerous. I swear he was about to punch me but the noise of his parents coming back made him moved his chair back to where it was and looked at his hands as if nothing had just happened. 

A steaming pot with legs came into the dining room. Next came the Sergeant, he was carrying six bowls and six spoons. Unlike last time Mrs Jones didn’t slam the pot on the table, she placed it very carefully in the middle of the table next to the soup pot. 

My mouth watered, I looked over the pot to where Lily was sitting a look of childlike excitement on her face. 

We waited impatiently as Mrs Jones put the soup pot in the kitchen, and she settled down into her seat “Help yourself”. 

I went to grab the spoon and dig into the crumble but Jacob elbowed my hand out of the way and got to it first. He gave himself a huge helping. I was slightly taken aback but refused to show it and waited politely until he had finished before taking some for Lily and myself. 

The crumble could have possibly been better than the soup, but I wasn’t sure how that was possible. The apple was cut into chunks that had been cooked until perfectly hard and soft at the same time. I haven’t had pastry in many, many years and it was just as good as I’d remembered. 

With a sigh I piled the last little crumbs onto my spoon and ate them. I leaned back in my seat feeling full for the first time in seven years. I had been the first to finish, the Jones’ were still only halfway through theirs. Lily was a little further along but because she had a smaller mouth than me, hadn’t been able to fit as much in her mouth. 

We talked for a while once everyone finished, I tried to strike up a conversation with Jacob but he shut me down straight away by turning away and talking to his dad about fighting strategies. 

Molly -which was the name of Jacobs younger sister- was nicer, she told us it had been ages since her dad had taken anyone on as an apprentice. She also told me that her brother was just mad at me because the Sergeant had refused to take on Jacob as an apprentice. 

After about an hour I noticed Lilly stifle a yawn, and I realised I too was extremely tired. I waited for a lull in the conversation before stating “Thank you so much Mrs Jones for your amazing hospitality, and your food it was definitely the best food I’ve had in many years but we must excuse ourselves it’s getting late, I’ve got to be up early tomorrow. Thank you very much.” I went to stand.

“Oh no!” Exclaimed Mrs Jones “You musn't the night is still young are you sure you won’t have another helping?” 

I shook my head “No no, but thank you for the offer” I motioned to Lilly to stand. 

“Oh well why don’t you take some food for later? You two are truly the scrawniest kids ever.” She laughed, I smiled tightly. 

“That would be great, thank you Mrs Jones” 

She busied herself with putting great heaps of crumble on to two pieces of cloth before wrapping them up. Lily and I waited by the door, the Sergeant stood close his hands clasped importantly behind his back. Mrs Jones handed a container to each of us. 

“Thank you” I said.

Lilly said nothing, I stood lightly on her foot. 

She looked at me confused, I glared at her and nodded towards Mrs Jones, she finally got the message. 

“Oh right” she turned to the Sergeant and Mrs Jones in turn “Mr Jones, Mrs Jones thank you for your hospitality” 

I nodded approvingly “Yes thank you” 

The Sergeant opened the door for us, I let Lily go out before me. The Sergeant placed a hand in the small of my back pressing me gently but forcefully out of his house. He shut the door behind him. The Sergeant stood expectantly, it took me a while to understand what he wanted. 

“Oh Lily why don’t you go on ahead? Huh?” 

I patted her on the head, she looked like she was going to protest but then thought better of it and left. 

“Well son I think she liked you. She’s quite hard to please that woman. I love her but damn can she be a handful” 

I laughed awkwardly not sure of what to say. 

“You did good Miles thank you” he clasped me by the shoulders. “You’re a good kid, remember seven o’clock tomorrow” 

“Alright thanks for tonight, see you tomorrow” 

I turned and started to walk towards where Lily was standing about ten meters away shuffling her feet. As I greeted her I heard the Sergeants door close. I looked back slightly sad, having dinner with the Sergeant had made me able to pretend that everything was okay. Now that we were going home the illusion was gone and reality was coming back. 

We walked a few minutes not saying anything. I could feel Lilly steaming beside me, finally I asked “What's wrong?” 

“Nothing” She growled, in the dark I could see her pale hands clenched in small fists. 

“There is obviously something wrong so why don’t you tell me” 

I could hear her grinding her teeth, for a second I thought she wasn’t going to say anything.

“What was that Miles?” 

“What was what?” I asked even though I thought I knew what she was talking about. 

“Why did we do that?” She said quietly looking at her feet 

“I don’t know to meet my boss's family?” 

She looked up at me pity swallowed me whole. “Do you really believe that?” She asked “Really Miles? He brought us there to show you off, did you see how they looked at us? Like we were in need of saving? It made me feel like we were less than them in every way. Don’t tell me you didn’t feel that” 

I was silent.

“Miles?” She pleaded.

“Yes, I did feel it. I was hoping you wouldn’t have” I trailed off. 

“Are we okay?” She asked 

“No, Lily we’re not, we haven’t been for a while” 

I could feel tears in my eyes and I went to wipe them away but was stopped when I felt a hand slide into mine. Right now Lilly seemed so young, so naive she was only a couple years younger than me but it might as well be ten. She had no idea of all the things that went on, how close we were to starvation. I leaned my head on hers, we walked like this until we rounded the last corner home. 

“Maybe being saved wouldn’t be so bad” I said sullenly. 

“Yes it would”

I helped her through the window, I went in behind her. I sat down on my bed, the Sergeant jacket was lying next to the fire. I reached over and grabbed it draping it over Lily's shoulders who was   
sitting next to me. 

“Would it really?” 

She nodded “Yes, we have lived this long without the help of anyone why should we have to rely on someone?” 

“Because it’s exhausting, I’m tired, you’re tired, no kids- no adult- should ever have to live like we do, have to live from day to day”

I suddenly felt very sad, I couldn’t bare Lily to feel that sad and tried to lighten the mood 

“Did you see how they all looked at us when we walked in?” I laughed. 

I’d knocked on the door and the Sergeant had opened the door. Mrs Jones had turned around smiling “Hello-” she had said, but abruptly stopped when she saw us. We’d washed a majority of the mud off us but it’s been at least four years since we’d had a proper shower. Mrs Jones had probably expected me to be tall and muscled, with clean pressed clothes all smelling nice. Lilly didn’t looked ragged but she wasn’t what all prim and proper like a sophisticated lady. Her dress was brown and patched in many places, under her dress she had green tights with rips at the knees. I’d tried to sew the knees closed but she had fallen over so many times that in the end I’d just given up. 

“Yeah” she sniffed “They were so surprised, she’d almost seemed offended that we were in her house” 

Lilly lay down on my bed, I lay down next to her. Her breathing slowed and little snores told me she was asleep. I stayed awake a while longer, gazing up into the darkness of the ceiling. Not really thinking but just wondering. I fell asleep to soft noise of Lilly snoring.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning was terrible, it was freezing but I couldn’t take the jacket off Lilly, she looked so small and after yesterday I just couldn’t handle it. I chucked a couple of more logs on the fire to keep it going till Lilly woke up. I was tired from last night and I could barely keep my eyes open. 

“Where’s your jacket boy?” the Sergeant growled.   
“Uh it’s not that cold sir” I’d said. 

“Bull shit it is son it’s freezing, where is it truly?” 

I scuffed my feet “I put it on Lily last night and it’s just so cold this morning, and I mean I’m bigger and tougher than her so it didn’t seem fair” 

The Sergeant seemed momentarily taken aback “Well Miles, that is very selfless of you. A fine knight will come of you yet” 

I grinned “Thank you sir”

“Right now on with the training” 

We fought and sparred and The Sergeant taught me new attack maneuvers and how to block an attack. It was an exhausting day, I felt sick with the thought that I would have to go back and eat stale bread and watered down meat. My mouth watered with the imagination of Lilly having caught some magnificent beast and we were going to eat like kings. I knew this was very unlikely but a man could dream. 

I got home and clambered through the window. Lily was nowhere to be found, I hoped she was out catching rabbits with Abe. I heard a woof, and Abe came bounding round the corner his mouth full of saliva. 

“Heya Abe” I said petting him on the head “How you doing? Where’s Lilly Huh?” 

“Lillys right here” I spun round to see Lily turning the corner “I was just using the bogs” 

I nodded and looked around. 

“Where’s dinner” I said excitedly.

“Dinner?” She asked confused 

“Yeah dinner, meat? Rabbit. What have you been doing all day?” 

Lily shrugged “I dunno, the day kind of just slipped away” she grew defensive “You didn’t tell me   
to” 

“Lilly” I said exasperated “I shouldn’t have to tell you, you’re a smart girl, what are we going to eat?” 

“You’re the one who normally hunt’s I don’t usually do this, why couldn’t you have done it?” I looked at her checking for the normal signs of going insane.

“Are you crazy? I have been out all day the least you could have done is go and get something to eat” 

“You and your precious training” She yelled “it’s all you do these days, it’s like since you’ve started it you’ve started to look down your nose at me. With the dinners and the new jackets, you’ve changed Miles” 

I was silent for a while, it’s been a long time since Lily had yelled at me.

“I have not changed” I whispered. 

“Oh yes you have, you’re never here anymore, never around” 

“And why do you think that is huh? So that I can make a better life for us both! I get up at ungodly hours in the morning so that I can get paid so we have money to buy food, I have always looked after both of us, never, EVER, asking for anything in return. You don’t cook, you don’t clean, you don’t hunt, you refuse to learn how to sew, you don’t look after your clothes forcing me to mend them so we don’t look disgusting or homeless. You decided against getting a job because I quote “You didn’t need one” When very clearly we did. Any girl at your age no matter how wealthy would have a job by now, but noooo you Lily Maguire are too high and mighty to get a job so that maybe I wouldn’t have to go into the woods everyday, risking my life, mind you, so that we can BOTH eat. I don’t do any of this for me, I do all of it for you, because you are my sister and I love you.” 

I was breathing hard, my hands clenched at my side. Lily looked horrified she went to open her mouth but I cut her off again “Oh and those jacket’S, do you see two? There’s only one and you’re wearing it, the Sergeant gave it to me but but you’re my little sister so I thought what the hell, I don’t need it, she needs it way more than me, I can just suffer. So maybe once in awhile you could be a bit more respectful to me because I do a crap ton of things that you don’t even know about” 

I could see tears in Lily's eyes but right then I couldn’t have cared less. 

I turned around “Where are you going?” Asked Lilly, her voice cracking 

“Out, I might get some food for us but then again I might not, the time might just slip away” I climbed out the window 

“Don’t wait up for me” I yelled. I got halfway down the street before I regretted what I’d said.   
“No no” I told myself “This is good, she needed to finally see what it’s like to be me, this way she’ll learn she has to start helping” but no matter how much I tried to reason with myself I still felt guilty.

“It wasn’t her fault, I hadn’t told her, she’s still young how was she supposed to know?” I nearly turned back but decided against it. A few coins jangled in my pocket, despite what the Sheriff had said I was being paid. The Sergeant had handed me a couple of coins. My first paycheck, life was finally looking up. Kind of. I went into town, I wasn’t sure how much I could buy for the amount of money I had but I was going to try and buy as much as possible. 

I went into the butchers, Mal the butcher was standing there in a blood stained apron sharpening a knife. He was a massive man with wide shoulders and a big pot belly, he had a patchy beard. 

He had a hoarse voice like he constantly had a sore throat. 

“Heya kid, come to bargain a price?” 

Five years ago I’d stolen from Mal, he’d caught me, I’d spent the night in jail, scared Lilly half to death. Sent home with a warning and a sore ass. Since then Mal and I had had a love, hate relationship. He’d give me an outrageous deal then I’d weedle it down to a smaller amount. 

I plonked my five coins on his counter, Mal stared “Who’d you rob?” he said quite seriously.

“No one, I got a job” 

“Oh you did?” He chuckled “Where?”

“At the castle” 

Mal looked impressed “As a cleaner or what?” 

“As a soldier” 

Mal’s face darkened “A soldier?” He asked. 

I nodded “Yeah, what’s wrong with that?” 

“Nothing, it’s just that well that’s not what I’d expected, you know with the hunting and stuff” 

I laughed and looked around nervously, just in case anyone was listening. 

“Yeah well hopefully that’s all behind me, how much can I buy for these” 

Mal huffed “Uh well I can buy you quite a bit but do you have somewhere cold to store it?” 

I shook my head “No”. 

“Well” said Mal “I suggest you buy a small amount and cook it straight away or it’ll go bad and   
you’ve wasted all your money” I nodded 

“Well I think we should have a celebration, it’s my first pay and …. Lily and I had a fight so I think I should try to make it up” 

Mal reached behind him and pulled a mean looking piece of meat off a hook “Half a coin” 

I took four coins off the table, Mal took the fifth, reached under the counter and replaced it with a half coin. He wrapped the piece of meat in some paper and slid it over to me, along with the half coin. I took the money and the meat. Thanking him, I left. 

I walked back home, my fight with Lily a thing in the past. I expected to walk through the window and be welcomed back with open arms and smiles. 

Lily was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Abe. I looked. But she wasn’t in the house or in the surrounding grounds. 

I wasn’t too worried. Lilly had, not come home before, I settled down and poked the fire, I stuck the meat on the makeshift spit I’d made and began to turn it. 

***

Many hours later, the meat was cooked, and it was smelling absolutely amazing, my mouth was watering. But I was restraining myself from eating it. 

It was dark by now and I was starting to get worried. Not too worried but enough to make me not want to eat. I sighed and stood up, deciding to go and have a quick look in the forest. Maybe she'd fallen over and twisted her ankle or got attacked by a bear and in desperate need of medical attention. 

Two hours later I hadn't found her. I'd come to the conclusion she wasn't in the forest. Back home I sat by the fire and nibbled at the now cold meat. Trying to tell myself that Abe would look after   
her. I went to bed late, a horrible feeling in my stomach that I tried to tell myself was hunger.

***

I woke up to something dripping on my face. It was probably just a leak in the roof, I'd fix it later but it was nothing to concern myself with right now. I wiped my face and rolled over. 

Sharp claws scratched my back and a high pitched whining finally got me to open my eyes. Staring right back at me was a demon. Or at least that's what it looked like at first. It was actually only Abe but he was looking pretty demon-like. 

His red fur matted and muddy, parts twisted together like dreadlocks. I made an exclamation of fear and sat up. Abe sat down on his rear and scratched his ear. Lily was still nowhere to be seen but if Abe was back, so was she. 

I stood up and stretched.“

Lily” I called. No answer “Lily?” I said again louder. 

When there was no answer I began to panic, I ran around the house checking and rechecking that she definitely wasn't her. Ten minutes later I had officially concluded that she wasn't in the house. 

The sun creeped sneakily over the horizon and I knew I would have to go to training. I ran to training, to give myself something to do instead of worrying about Lily. I greeted The Sergeant in the courtyard and we began our training for the day, through my mind wasn't really in it. 

After having dropped my sword twice, fallen over three times and been hit in the face once The Sergeant stopped exasperated and worried. 

“What's up?” he asked. 

“Oh” I mumbled “Nothing, it's nothing to worry about, I'm just being dramatic” 

The Sergeant looked at me seriously “No, there is something wrong, you can tell me I won't judge you it's not good to keep your emotions bottled up” 

I took a deep breath mustering the courage to voice my fear. 

“Well… Sir if I'm being honest, uh Lilly and I had a fight yesterday and I stormed out, I said.. I said some things I regret now but when I came back she wasn't there. And I. I know that's nothing to really worry about but I went searching for her and couldn't find her. Then this morning she wasn’t there and I'm starting to get worried. What if something happened and she's been calling out my name hoping for me to find her and she's stuck there thinking because we had a fight that I don't care anymore, I can't live with that.” 

The Sergeant looked at me very seriously, “Miles” he said “this is quite serious, Robin Hood is at his peak, he's never been so powerful, your sister is in grave danger, Robin Hood and his gang control the forest, if she wandered into the forest, there is a good chance they kidnapped her. They might know you are a soldier and taken her to use against us. We need to find her” 

The Sergeant sheathed his sword, I did the same. 

“I will request a search party from The Sheriff, I'm sure we can spare the manpower” 

I nodded, very close to tears. I hadn't even thought of Robin Hood but now The Sergeant had suggested it, it seemed obvious. 

“Of course” The Sergeant said pacing “we do have to consider other options like she's just staying over at a friends house, or she’s just hiding somewhere. But don't worry” assured The Sergeant “we will be thoroughly searching the woods for her” 

“Thank you” I said shakily, thanking the Lord my voice hadn't cracked. 

“I'll go and request a search party you wait here, I'll come back for you when everything is ready.” 

The Sergeant jogged off, it took everything from me not to yell at him to sprint. My legs wobbled and gave way, I collapsed to the ground and began to cry. 

I got a few weird glances from other people who were training but no one said anything. It was all totally my fault, I'd started the fight and I really should have told Lily to go find something to eat. She was so young how was she supposed to know? And now because of me she was in danger, possibly kidnapped by Robin Hood and his dangerous gang who would be doing God knows what to her. 

The thought of that made my blood boil with rage, I scrunched my hands into fists and slammed them into the ground, I grunted when it hurt more than I'd expected it to. 

Unable to do nothing, I got up and began to pace, my tears having turned to anger, I muttered under my breath. Clenching and unclenching my fists. 

After what seemed like an age I felt a soft hand on my shoulder. I was wound so tightly I jumped a foot in the air. 

The Sergeant chuckled “It's alright kid, a search party has been warranted. The sheriff took a bit of persuasion but in the end she came around. You, I and a dozen other men are going to search the woods, twenty other men will be going door to door asking for your sister they'll also be looking in sheds any thing they think someone could be hiding in” he nodded towards the forest “Let's go, do you know where your sister might be hiding, do you two go into the forest often?” 

I nodded “Yes sir all the time”   
The Sergeant raised an eyebrow. 

“Well I mean not all the time but we do hang out there you know living next to it and all” 

The Sergeant rolled his eyes “I'm sure that's all you did, no hunting or anything?” 

I swallowed and shook my head very lightly “No never” I whispered. 

The Sergeant chuckled began to walk away. 

I jogged to catch up with him “Where are we going?” 

“Well I thought the best place to start would be the woods around your house and then we can expand from there” 

I nodded it was a smart idea. 

In the caught yard we met twelve other soldiers, they were all muscled and tall, most taller than me. The Sergeant was the shortest one here. Instead of the normal soldiers armour, they were wearing leather walking boots, long sleeved shirts, long pants. They obviously weren't planning on doing much physical exercise. 

They nodded at me individually and all saluted to The Sergeant. 

“Well lead on Miles”, he said.

I began to walk towards my house. When no one followed I stopped annoyed. 

“Wh-” I went to say but The Sergeant stopped me 

“Right men follow on” 

Almost reluctantly they began to follow me. I walked briskly cutting the ten minute walk to a five minute one. The soldiers groaned and asked on several occasions if I could slow down. But I ignored them and continued. 

Once we were standing at the edge of the forest The Sergeant ordered his men to fan out and check up trees in bushes and down rabbit holes anywhere a young girl could be hiding. The soldiers saluted and went off in six groups of two. 

The Sergeant accompanied me, we went deep into the forest calling Lily's name until our voices were sore. 

It wasn't until midday that we found any kind of traces of human existence. Footprints, almost completely covered by leaf litter. I was walking blurry eyed tired and hungry. 

Suddenly The Sergeant extended his hand in front of me stopping me where I stood. He motioned down, I looked at my feet. Light footprints seemed to be walking away from me. 

They were small, next to them were much bigger stronger prints. The smaller ones seemed irregular and there was smudged parts in between each step almost like they were dragged. 

Without a second's hesitation I began to run, following the footprints losing them momentarily but then finding them again. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that The Sergeant was following closely behind me. 

The footprints stopped. 

And they didn't start again.

I frantically searched the surrounding bush but to no avail, the footprints were no more. 

The Sergeant grabbed me by the shoulders as I sank to the ground. 

“I really thought we’d found her” I whispered. I was crying again. I didn't care, the Sergeant didn't really seem to mind. 

“Miles?” I looked up then around, I stood up. 

“Lily?” 

“Miles! Miles!” 

I followed the sound of her voice. A few meters from where we stood was Lily, she was tied to a tree. 

I clumsily untied the coarse rope the held her to the tree and bound her hands. 

“I've got you, I've got you, you'll be okay” 

I held Lily and she shook in my arms. She sniffed and wiped her nose, I held her at arm's length. 

She was scratched and bruised, twigs were scattered in her hair and her leggings were even more ripped than before. But other than that she seemed physically okay. 

However I didn't know how emotionally scarred she was. Even though you can't see emotional pain it is just as important as physical pain.

“Are you okay? Did they do anything to you?”

Lily shook her head “No, no nothing, I was hit on the head and taken here. I don't know why they didn't say anything they just tied me up and left”. Lily's green eyes showed no signs of lying 

“Who were they?” 

Lily shook her head “I have no idea, I've never seen them before” 

“Are you sure you're okay?” 

“Yes Miles I am fine seriously” 

“Well okay if you say so” I said picking a twig out of her hair. 

I turned to The Sergeant who was standing a few feet away “Do you know the way back?”


	7. Chapter 7

A week past, Lily basically got over it straight away, she cried a little when I apologized, I got a day off to look after her. But the Sergeant gave me no more time off. 

Lily and I had a proper discussion and we worked out a few things. 

At the end of every week I got five coins. We would put aside two coins for food and the other three for ourselves to help us live better. 

Together we would decide what we needed next and save up for it. 

Lily would go and get a job. She was less well known as a troublemaker and I believed she would be able to get a job a lot easier than I. 

With the money we would buy new clothes, blankets, quite possibly if we could afford it a mattress. Things were definitely looking up for us and I was hoping things would start to change. 

On Saturday Lily started to look for a job, by Sunday she'd found one. She was going to work as a cook's apprentice at one of the rich houses in Nottingham. 

Absolutely everyone knew of Lily's kidnapping but no one knew any details. They'd made some up but we weren't going to tell anyone. I suppose they'd felt pity for her and hired her. I told her very sternly that we needed this job and she wasn't to lose it. Out of all the jobs in town she'd managed to land herself a pretty good one. 

Any way on Sunday I was strolling back from training, whistling or at least attempting to whistle-I'd never managed to master it- with five shining gold coins jingling in my pocket. 

I was feeling good. The stress of Lily's kidnapping was still playing on my emotions but overall everything was good. The Sergeant had let me off early and I'd wanted to surprise Lily with some not stale food. 

In the courtyard sat a large group of boys they were jostling each other about just generally having a laugh when Jacob spotted me. He'd been sitting down on a step laughing with his friends who were playfully wrestling. 

“Hey you!” called Jacob. I quickened my pace, not wanting any confrontation today. “Hey you! Come here!” 

I glanced over to see the group of four making their way over to me. I turned and faced them. “Yes?” 

Jacob stopped. “That's my jacket” 

I looked down at the jacket in my hand, I'd taken it today as Lily had left at the same time to go to her job. She hadn't wanted to be late on her first day. 

“No this is my jacket, sorry, you were mistaken” I tried to continue to walk. 

However I found my way blocked by two meatheads. I smiled tightly “Excuse me” 

“Give me back my jacket” said Jacob from behind me. 

“No this is my jacket now, it was gifted to me by your father” 

“Oh I bet he did, I reckon you came over a week ago and stole it” 

“No. No of course not, I would never steal, not anymore” 

Jacob chuckled, a boy who I used to go to school with called Adam, laughed with him. Jacob turned to his friends.

“How can we trust a dirty stinking, lying child?” 

I glared at him, trying not to show how intimidated I was.   
“Here you just take the jacket and I'll go,” I held out the jacket reluctantly, it was a nice jacket the nicest piece of clothing that Lily and I owned. 

Jacob looked at it in disgust, “Keep your dirty clothes” 

“Well then” I said impatiently “what’s the problem?” 

Jacob licked his teeth menacingly, a half smile playing dangerously at his lips. “We can't just let a thief go without teaching him a lesson” 

“I. Did. Not. Steal. It” 

The group of four began to close in “Well you are pretty stupid so why don't we teach you a lesson anyway?” 

I set my jaw, mentally preparing myself for a fight. I've been in many a street fight before. None of this sparing with proper moves but more like scrappy brutal, clawing at each other's eyes kind of fight. I've won a lot of these fights but only a few more than I've lost. 

I placed my jacket on the ground trying not to make the coins clink in its pocket. The boys would almost definitely take them from me. 

The second I'd put it down I attacked, not giving the other boys time to prepare. 

I jumped on the biggest ones back latching my arms around his neck. Using my hands to slap his face and his ears trying to disorientate him. I kicked his back as hard as I could sending him to his knees, I ragged him to the ground before kicking him in the junk. 

A hand grabbed me by the hair, I cried out and clawed at his hands. He let go. I spun to meet my attacker, I tackled the boy around the waist pushing him into the nearest wall. I punched him in the chest twice knocking the air out of his lungs. 

The only two left where Adam and Jacob. I snarled at Adam 

“Remember the last fight we had Adam? It didn't end too well for you” 

Adam sneered back “I'm older, bigger, better. You're small and weak” 

“Bring it on” 

Now that's not normally something I would say but it felt right in the moment. 

Adam charged and tackled me around the waist, much like I'd done to the poor soul wheezing in the corner. 

Using the palms of my hands I slapped him hard on the base of his head and as close as I could to his ears. I elbowed him as hard as I could in the bony part of his neck. He dropped me, holding his neck, he growled and muttered incomprehensible swear words. 

Jacob stood beside his injured friend. 

I was panting now, sweat covered my body like a layer of grease. Jacob lunged on me, grabbing my shoulders and getting on top of me. His weight was too much and my legs gave way. 

I crashed to the cobblestone courtyard. 

Jacob kneeled on my chest and began to punch me in the face, I pushed him away forcing his head upwards. One of my thrashing legs caught Adam in the face as he struggled to help his friend. Jacob held down my shoulders, I leant forward and bit his arm as hard as I could. 

He screamed and tried to get off but I held on like my life depended on it. I kept at it until I tasted blood in my mouth. I kneed him in the face, he crashed to the ground, blood spurting from between his fingers. 

I heaved, sucking in deep breaths I stood over my fallen attackers. Blood dripped from my mouth. The first boy I'd kicked in the dick was struggling to his feet. I kicked him to the ground. 

Jacob grabbed my leg. I stomped on his hand. He let go. 

I snatched up my jacket from where it lay. I tried to think of something witty and clever to say but I couldn't think of one so I just left. 

I got a few odd glances as I limped back home, a few kids stared but other than that I got home with no other problems. I had no idea what time Lily would be home but I seriously hoped she wouldn't be so I could clean up a little bit and stop her from worrying. However she was home. I climbed through the window Lily was sitting on her bed thumbing a small hand full of half coins. 

She looked glum. 

“Hey” I said “what's wrong?” 

“Nothing it's just I'd kind of expected to get more money” she didn't look up at me. 

I laughed “That's okay, you've only been working one day and you're an apprentice, normally they don't even get paid, the more you work and the longer you work the more you'll get paid. Plus hey you're an apprentice cook you'll be able to cook amazing dinners for us instead of watery meat soup” 

Lily laughed she wiped away a couple tears that had managed to find their way past her eyelids. 

“And anyways look at this” I pulled out my money from this week. 

Lily smiled and looked up at me for the first time. Her smile faded. “My God Miles what happened to you?” 

I laughed reluctantly. “It was just a little fight nothing to worry about, it's sorted now” 

Lily looked at me sadly “Who was it?” 

I rolled my eyes. “Jacob and his friends” 

Lily's eyebrows shot up “Like Mr Jones’ kid?”

I nodded 

“Then why don't you say something?” 

I shrugged “Because it’s all in the past now. Anyway I think I'd get in more trouble than them, let's just say they probably won't be bothering me again.” 

Lily laughed “That's good I suppose...hey I've been thinking, you know how you're completely adamant that the people that kidnapped me where Robin Hood and his gang?” 

I nodded unsure of where the conversation was going. 

“Well I've been thinking, I don't believe it was. Robin’s a good man, he gives money to the poor and protects us from the sheriff. I don't think he would kidnap someone, sure he hates the sheriff and he could have used me to get to you, but there are plenty of people who hate the Sheriff” 

I shuffled a bit closer to Lily. “You know about three weeks ago when The Sergeant brought me home?” 

Lily nodded “Yeah?” 

“And I told you I didn't know who did it?” 

Lily narrowed her eyes and nodded again.   
“I did know who it was, it was Robin Hood and his merry men, they beat me up so I could hardly walk, they can do bad things, they're not all good, don't believe everything you hear” 

Lily gasped and said “Are you sure, it could be easy to mistake them” Though I knew she didn't believe it herself. 

“It was them, definitely” Lily didn't say anything but I could see her rethinking everything she knew.


	8. Chapter 8

My back hurt, so did my legs. I'd been standing for a long time. I was sweating and it took every ounce of concentration not to wipe it out of my eyes. My standard issue chestplate and helmet were definitely not helping, my sword by my side hung limply. I doubted I would have the energy to lift it if someone attacked. 

I glanced at the sun, it was nearly straight above me and I knew it wouldn't be long before someone came to relieve me. I watched as the sun creeped slowly behind me, I ground my teeth. 

Liam was late. I heard clanking and some fast paced footsteps. He was here, and only an hour late. My glare followed him as he came into my peripheral vision. 

He saluted and breathed. “I'm sorry sir, I lost track of time” 

I grunted. 

We swapped places and as he went past I cuffed him lightly over the head. 

Liam was a good kid, I think he's actually the same age as me but he's still a child, his mother's been sick recently and he's been worrying himself silly over her. I could see where he was coming from. 

When my dad had gotten sick I'd been so worried I hadn’t eaten for a week. I was eight then, it’s been eight years since he died. 

I left biding the soldier goodbye. As I went past the soldiers they saluted. 

Just over six months ago I'd been promoted to Sergeant. 

Around about the same time The Sergeant was promoted to Captain. 

I was the youngest in the country and superior to people twice my age. It definitely does feel good. People have never looked up to me or considered me as a person of authority, so now that I was a Sergeant everyone saw me as someone of importance. 

The Sergeant, now The Captain still trained me though less than he did. He and I, we're good friends, I go over to his house regularly. 

Jacob stays away from me, avoiding eye contact. He stayed in school for a while before applying to be a soldier. He got in but he's still a foot soldier. He hates me but I outrank him largely so he can't do anything. 

Lily. 

It's been a year since she was kidnapped. 

She's one of the secondary cooks. I don't really know what that means but I think it's good. She's fourteen now but nearly fifteen. 

We moved out of our house a month ago. We'd been saving and saving and saving. Having brought some presentable clothes and two blankets, we decided the next thing we needed was a house. 

I'd gotten a second job at a tannery, working minimum wage cleaning. Lily had done the same but she worked at the butchers. After working ourselves half to death and doing as much over time as possible we’d managed to save up for a new house. We brought it in full so we wouldn't have to be paying it off later. 

I quit my job at the tannery, the same with Lily and we moved into the small house. 

When I say small I mean small. Just big enough for two rooms, one has the beds and a fire, and the other our living room. The living room consists of two chairs, a carpet, it holds my sword (which is fairly new given to me by the Captain as a promotion gift). It's also where we cook, a large fire pit with a makeshift spit and a pot sit in the corner.

Lily's actually become a really good cook. We use the town long drop because I don't have enough time to make another one. The house, no matter how small Is 100% better than our old house. This one is sturdy and isn't falling apart at the seams. 

Life is good, well it's better than it was. We still have to worry about food or if we're going to have enough money to eat this week but it's definitely better. Occasionally when times are tough I still hunt but it's a once a month occurrence instead of almost everyday.   
Our new house is a bit further away from the castle. It takes a brisk 20 minute walk to get there. Lily should be home by now. Her work finishes about 7, mines supposed to finish at half seven though it rarely ever does. 

It's about nine by the time I get home. It's summer so the sun only went down a while ago. 

“Abe's gone” 

That's the first thing I hear when I come through the door. 

“What do you mean gone?”

I ask placing my jacket on the floor and unbuckling my sword. 

“He's dead” 

I leaned my sword in the corner of the room. 

“Dead? When?” 

Lily was crying, she wasn't sobbing but tears ran down her face. 

“I came home and he was lying down panting, he didn't get up to greet me so I knew something was wrong. I don't think he died in pain. I was right next to him when he passed.” 

“When did this happen?” I asked taking Lilly into my arms 

“About an hour ago” she said into my shoulder. 

“Oh Lily I'm so sorry you had to go through that alone, why don't we go and bury him now?” 

Lily nodded “Alright” 

Abe was lying on Lily's bed, he was a scary matted dog with big fangs but right now he looked small and fragile. Asleep as if I could just call his name and his head would snap up, his tongue flapping and his tail wagging. But I knew he was dead, there was this air about him, he was too still, too quiet to be alive. 

A year ago it would have been a mission to pick up the big dog but after a year of training I'd gotten a lot stronger. I picked him up and carried him to our garden. The garden was pretty small, bigger than our house maybe but that's not really hard. We've started to grow fruit and vegetables in it. 

I lay Abe down in a clear spot, “We don't have a spade or anything” 

“We could go ask Miss Chadwick, she's super nice” 

Lily suggested. 

I nodded “Good idea” 

Lily went off to ask for a spade. Miss Chadwick was our next door neighbour, she lives alone with her three cats. I suspect she was a pleasant looking lady in her youth but now she was wrinkled and greying. She still works at the local school, I never had her as a teacher because she taught the older kids and I stopped going to school when I was seven. 

Lily came back a few minutes later with a spade and a pie. I raised an eyebrow questioningly, 

“She wanted to know what the spade was for and when I told her about Abe she felt so bad she gave us a pie for dinner” 

“Well that's nice, here give me the spade” 

Lily handed me the spade and went off inside to put the pie down. She came out again with a burning stick for light. By torch light I dug a shallow pit, when I got too tired Lily took over and I held the torch. 

There was no moon, as if it was hiding away, marking the sad occasion. It was about midnight when we finished, I carefully placed Abe in the hole and proceeded to cover his lifeless body with dirt until nothing was left but a lump in the ground. 

“We should plant a tree” I decided. 

Without another word I walked into the forest which is right next to our house, in search of an acorn. It wasn't hard, half the forest is made from oak trees, but I spent a while searching for the perfect one. When I found one I headed back. 

The acorn I'd picked was big and healthy, with no blemishes that I could feel. I stuck it right in the center and covered it was dirt. I took Lily's hand and spat in the spot I'd put the acorn, Lily followed my example. It was a ritual in our town to spit on a tree that we've planted. It means it has grown from us and it is truly ours. 

We stayed there for several minutes before I pulled Lily inside. We ate the pie Miss Chadwick had given us but we didn't appreciate it. 

***  
Three days later Miss Chadwick came knocking on our door. There was two reasons behind her visit, one because we hadn't given back her spade and she wanted to do some gardening, and two because one of her cats had given birth a few weeks ago and she wanted to know if we wanted on of her kittens. 

“You know now is the best time to have one, it'll be something to help with the loss of your dog, plus you need to take it before it gets used to my house, it's at the perfect age to imprint on someone” 

It was Saturday my day off, Lily wasn't home so I decided to go have a look. 

“Okay it's worth a look” she led me, spade in hand, to her house.

Okay so I'm not saying I loved all of them and spent hours deciding and cuddling them all. But that's totally what I did. They were just so cute and small and friendly, it had stopped being the question of if, but instead became which one. 

There was four kittens, two black and white ones, a ginger one and a grey one. It took a while but it came down to the ginger on and a black and white one. But then the black and white one sneezed and it was no competition from there. 

I walked the short distance home holding a warm purring sleepy bundle of fur. I sat down by the fire and placed the sleeping kitten next to it so it wouldn't be cold. 

It was about midday and my stomach started to growl. We had some leftover pie so I balanced it on the spit and waited for it to heat. 

The kitten woke up and stretched, it little paws curled exposing sharp claws. It yawned sticking its tongue out, I could see the little spikes on her tongue. She looked up at me, her big blue eyes looked at me inquiring. Large pupils took up most of her eyes. 

She stood up and started to pace towards me, she sniffed and had a lick before leaning back and jumping onto my leg. She circled for a second before crouching low and launching herself at my chest. Using her claws she made her way up to my shoulder where she proceeded to sit proudly like she had just conquered the world. She then promptly lay down and fell asleep with her head curled at the nape of my neck. I smiled as she purred in her sleep. 

I leaned gently over to the fire and grabbed my pie. The kitten's nose twitched and she chirruped. I laughed and put some of the steaming meat on my finger, she sniffed it before eating it hungrily up. I scooped her up and placed her before a pile of meat. I watched her eat as I munched at mine.


	9. Chapter 9

*two months later*

Bertie curled around my neck, she purred loudly in my ear. I scratched the top of her head. 

“Right so I bought carrots, I know the garden isn’t doing so well but the potatoes are, I got a nice leg of lamb that was going cheap from Mal and I managed to haggle some salt off old Mr Stevens down the road for two potatoes” 

Lily was stirring a pot, a beautiful smell was wafting from it. 

I laughed “What's the occasion?” 

“I got a pay raise, I got a pay raise, I got a pay raise” Lily chanted doing a little jig in the middle of the room. 

I grinned “Good for you, how much?” 

“An extra coin” she said proudly “That brings me to six coins a week” 

I clapped her on the back. 

“How long for dinner?” 

it was still light outside, I'd been let off early as it seems so had Lily. She poured the meal into two bowls, handed one to me and kept the other to himself. 

Suddenly I heard a commotion outside, it didn't sound like the normal scuffle between two boys having a play fight it sounded serious. I reluctantly put down my bowl and picked up Bertie setting her down on Lily's lap. 

I went out to see what was happening. I was met with the Captain staring me in the face. He looked like he was just about to knock. 

“What's happening?” I asked him.

“Robin Hood” 

“Hold up just one second” I closed the door in his face   
“Lily, I have to go out Robin Hoods done something I'll see you in a bit” 

Lily nodded, she continued to eat her dinner. It was normal for me to have to go out and do something like this. I grabbed my sword and met the Captain outside my house.   
“What's he done?” I growled, ever since he kidnapped Lily over a year ago it's been my mission to bring him to justice. 

“He attacked the castle taking much needed supplies and money, we followed him to here but we lost him. We think him and his gang are hiding somewhere in your town.” 

I nodded “Let's go, I'll take half the men and search this half of the town you do the other” 

I followed him to where the rest of the castles soldiers stood ready to be told what to do. 

I saw Jacob, “You” I yelled to Jacob's half of the group, “are coming with me”. 

When no one moved I yelled “Come one stop gawping like you've seen a ghost we've got a fugitive to catch” 

They followed me through the streets until we came to the half of town we were going to search. 

“Right I want you to go in groups of two and search every house on this side of the river. Knock first but if no one answers break in, oh and do be polite” 

A few of the men seemed a little reluctant. Obviously they thought I was too young to be commanding them like I was. 

“Come on you bunch of sissy's let's get moving. Jacob you're with me” 

Jacob scowled but knew better than to complain. Everyone organised themselves and began to search each house, banging on the door and if no reply breaking down the door. Jacob glared at me as I made my way over to him. 

“Right let's go” I said. 

I did the knocking and Jacob did the door breaking. I felt kind of bad breaking the peacefulness of these poor people's days but it was all for a good cause, it was for their own safety. 

We went into about fifty houses before we got to my old street. A few kids were running about but other than that the street was completely deserted. With the sight of us the kids laughed turned to nothing and they quickly ran inside. 

Half an hour later we’d done every house except my old one. I went to walk towards it but Jacob grabbed my arm, stopping me. 

“No one lives there, it's uninhabitable, look at it no one's lived there for at least ten years” 

I turned to him and looked him straight in the eye, I held his gaze until he squirmed. 

“My sister and I used to live there, we left three months ago” 

Jacob was so shocked he didn't move, he just stood there staring at me. 

“We’re going to search it” 

I pushed Jacob in front of me and we walked to it together. It was even more run down than I remember, the grass was a bit taller and looking more overgrown, it seemed to be leaning slightly to one side. Jacob went ahead and cut his way through the grass using his sword to hack a path through.

I rolled my eyes and made my way over to the path that had yet to grow over. I stood at the house waiting for Jacob to finally fight his way out of the grass. 

Jacob tried the door, “It's locked” he confirmed. 

I nodded “Yes” 

Jacob looked at me expectantly “Well you lived here do you have the key?” 

I shook my head “No” 

Jacob looked at me like I was stupid, I suppressed a smile. “Then how are we supposed to get in?” 

I motioned for him to follow me and I hopped through the open window. Jacob followed getting his foot caught on the sill and hopping around like an idiot before he managed to free himself. 

This was the last house on the block and so far we’d come up empty handed. 

I put a finger to my lips shushing my companion. I crept forward, tip toeing my way through my old house. The first room was deserted. A wave of nostalgia washes over me as I saw the two old lumps of dirt that Lily and I used to sleep on. An ancient fire pit sat cold and unused. 

I heard a soft thud, it was quick and quiet I could have almost dismissed it. If I was not searching for notorious outlaws. 

I tensed and pulled my sword very slowly from its sheath. I held it out in front of me and went through the door. I almost expected it to be empty and was genuinely surprised when I saw it full of people.   
I was still for a moment before I got my wits together and swung at the person closest to me. They ducked. 

I realized that a sword was going to be useless in a close quarters fight. I threw it to one side and raised my fists. 

There was a ripple of laughter, “What are you going to do against all of us?” said a familiar voice. 

I turned round, I recognized him as John the big man who had given me a beating when I'd first encountered Robin and his gang. I glared at him, my face hurt just by looking at him. 

“I’ve had some practice” I said. 

He chuckled. I swung at him and landed a hearty punch on his jaw bone. The bigger man stumbled back, his hand nursing his jaw. I leant back and kicked him as hard as I could in the stomach. He doubled over and crashed into the wall. A solid elbow to the neck made him fall to the floor. 

I felt a hand grab my shoulder, I took ahold of it and twisted it. The person cried out in pain. I spun round and smashed my fist into their elbow. There was a crack and a cry and the person crashed to the ground. 

Someone behind me grabbed me under the arms and lifted me up off the ground. I struggled against them, and when I could not break free I resulted in kicking at everything that moved. 

I felt the satisfying thud as my foot collided with a stomach and the crunch of a leg giving way. A young man with dark skin got the heel of my boot to his jaw. 

A long faced man with brown hair dove to the ground and grabbed both of my legs, wrapping his body around them so I couldn’t move. I twisted and writhed but these were stronger, older and bigger men. So after a few seconds I stopped and just glared at them evilly. 

“John come grab his arms” 

John nodded and took over the job from the man holding me. I grunted and tried to pull my arms free, but John was quite possibly the biggest man I’d ever come across and it was hopeless. A man who I recognised as Robin stepped in front of me. 

He looked basically the same as the last time I’d seen him except he had longer hair. And he’d gotten shorter. Well actually I’d grown, not having enough food had stunted my growth and over the past six months I’d shot up nearly a foot. 

Robin narrowed his eyes “Do I know you?” He asked, his accent made him very threatening.   
I shook my head “No never seen you in my life” I lied avoiding eye contact by looking at the ground. 

Robin scoffed “Yeah I do, you’re that kid about a year ago that nearly got us caught. Look at you, you’ve grown a bit” 

I glared at him. “Yeah if I’d done a better job you would be behind bars long ago” I struggled against John’s hands. 

Robin chuckled his hands on his hips, breathing hard. 

“How’s your face feeling? John gave you quite a beating” 

I flinched just remembering it. The dark skinned boy who I had kicked in the face groaned from where he lay. Robin knelt down and inspected him. 

“Djaq, you’re okay just a bruise maybe a fracture but nothing major” 

Djaq nodded and wobbled to his feet. A mousie looking man sat curled in the corner whimpering. 

He clutched his arm. Robin went over “Much what is wrong? What happened?”

He glanced over at me and pointed, “He happened” He growled. 

Robin laughed. Much fumed in the corner. 

“We’ll get you fixed up” 

I saw movement from the doorway and looked over. Jacob was crouched by the corner peeking through, he noticed me looking at me and mouthed “What do I do?” 

I mouthed “Run” trying to move my mouth as little as possible. 

He stared at me confused. 

“Run Jacob, go get help, run!” 

Everybody looked at me. Jacob squatted not moving, rooted to the spot. 

So scared he couldn’t move I tried again “Run!” I screamed. 

This time he reacted and scrambled to his feet. Everyone in the room turned and stared, Jacob who despite now being on his feet was still frozen to the ground. Robin and his merry men seemed too shocked to move. 

“Run you idiot go get help” I screamed.

Finally Jacob locked eyes with me and he seemed to understand. He nodded, turned on his heel and sprinted out of the house. Robin waved his hand dismissively. 

“Let him go, we’ll be gone before he can get help” 

“Robin” Growled John “What do we do with the boy?” 

I tugged slightly not really to get away but to let John know I hadn’t given up. Robin shook his head and ran his hand through his hair 

“I don’t know John I suppose we leave him here tied up so he can’t follow us” 

The Merry men nodded in agreement. 

“Do we have any rope?” 

There was a quick moment of people checking their pockets but they all came up negative. 

Robin looked at my shirt, he grabbed the end and cut through a section with his knife. Robin then ripped the strip off and used it to tie my hands behind my back. My face reddened and I ground my teeth as I was forced to sit on the ground. Robin ripped another strip from my shirt and used it to tie my feet together. 

“For his mouth?” asked Much, glaring at me. 

Robin shook his head “No need there’s no one around to hear his screams” 

Much sneered at me, he was still cradling his arm but it didn’t look as bad he made out. I jerked forward towards him, Much screamed and stumbled backwards. I chuckled. Much glared, but the rest of the merry men laughed as well. 

“Oh Much lighten up” said Robin grinning, he slapped his friend on the back. “Right fellas let’s go” 

Much shot me one last look and followed the rest of the group out of the house.   
I sat in the corner defeated. I knew someone would eventually come and untie me but I had been so close. So close. I’d spent the last year and a half tirelessly searching for Robin and his gang, and they had been right there in my grasp and I’d let them go. 

I pulled at my bonds but they held tight. Then I noticed my sword. I’d thrown it in the corner at the beginning of the fight. It was lying in the corner. 

I thanked the Lord that they hadn’t noticed it. I wiggled my way over to the other corner and fell down beside my sword. I sat up and fumbled around, my fingers felt the cold metal of my sword and used the sharp edges to cut the strips of my shirt. 

I felt the pain as the edges cut my fingers but I didn’t care, all I could think about was getting free and catching up with Robin and his gang. I felt the cloth go slack as I cut the whole way through it. I quickly untied my feet and stood up. 

I sheathed my sword and went outside. I had no idea which way they’d went but I knew they would have headed to the forest. Over the course of my training with The Captain we’d covered at little tracking and I felt I would be able to follow them. 

Thankfully it rained yesterday. That meant the ground was especially muddy, with any hope I would be able to find their footprints. I searched the ground. I found Jacobs footprints. 

They were deep and heading away from the house. I spotted churned mud. A large amount of people were heading towards the forest. 

I followed them till I reached the edge of the forest. 

I took a deep breath and briefly considered waiting for help but I knew they would be long gone and I would have let them slip through my fingers yet again. And with those thoughts in my head, I stepped into the forest.


	10. Chapter 10

I’ve explored these woods for as long as I could remember, I knew them as well as any man but despite the familiarity I couldn’t stop my heart from racing. I followed the footprints, they double backed and weaved in no particular order. At some points they disappeared completely. I tracked the prints for well over an hour before I stopped. 

I sat down at the base of a tree and sat there panting. It was a warm day, the moisture from yesterday was making it hot and sticky. I had hardly eaten breakfast this morning and the dinner Lily had made was still untouched at home. 

I was thirsty and hungry and I don’t like to admit it but I was lost. I’d spent so much time looking at the ground I hadn’t being paying any attention to where I was going. I thought about climbing a tree and trying to see which way Nottingham was but I decided against it. 

“You’ve come this far you’re not stopping now” I muttered to myself as I forced myself to my feet. 

I had been walking for no less than five minutes when the footprints stopped. And I couldn’t find them again. I searched for another ten minutes but they were nowhere to be found. They’d all just stopped in the middle of a clearing like they’d just vanished from existence. 

I nearly cried. I didn’t, but I nearly did. No wonder they’d never been caught. If they could just disappear into thin air there was no chance for us. 

I thudded to my knees. I stood up very quickly. As my knees had hit the ground, instead of the flat thump of mud, there had been a sharp hollow sound as if I’d hit a wooden door. 

I slowly inched my way down so I was lying on the ground. I placed my ear to the ground and listened. I heard nothing and I was just going to stand up when I heard muted talking. I couldn’t make out what was being said but there was definitely talking. 

I carefully, so to not make a noise, cleared the ground. After a couple inches of leaves and mud I found wood. It looked like someone had cut down trees and lashed them together. I’d found Robin and his gang. 

A job that no one had been able to do in 6 and a half years. 

More experienced soldiers had tried and failed to do what I had just done. 

I whooped with joy, then froze. I clamped my hand over my mouth and stood, stock still. I scrambled to my feet and ran to hide behind a tree. I slowed my breathing and listened for any noise to tell me I’d been heard. 

Two or three minutes later I risked a look. 

Everything seemed normal, nothing stirred and the only noise I could hear was the sweet tweeting of birds high in the trees above me. I leaned my head on the tree and let out a sigh of relief. I closed my eyes and slid down to the base of the tree. 

Suddenly I sensed someone in front of me. I opened my eyes to find the dark skinned man that I’d kicked in the face, looming over me. It took a few seconds for me to notice the long pointed stick in my face. 

I looked at the stick, then back at the man, then back at the stick and, back at the man. I didn’t say anything. 

He pulled back the stick and for a moment I thought he was going to let me go but instead he brought it down with a large thump upon my forehead.


	11. Chapter 11

I groaned and sat up. It was too dark to see. My head hurt and every time my heart beat it throbbed. My eyes adjusted and even though it was still dark I could still make out a few things. 

I was in a room. It seemed small but I couldn’t really tell. I seemed to be lying on some sort of bed. I went to rub my eyes before realising my hands were tied behind my back, I grunted and pulled at my binds but they held strong. 

My feet, like my hands were tied. I wiggled, a worm in my binds, but I only succeeded in falling off the platform I had been lying on. I lay there for hours in complete darkness, unable to move. I called out a couple of times but I quickly gave up, there was no one around to hear. 

***

I dozed off. I had a weird dream that could have involved a goat but as I woke up I forgot what it was. Loud obnoxious voices woke me up. I groaned and rolled over, facing away from the light which was glaring in my face. I blinked and my eyes sting, the light was too bright. 

A face appeared next to mine. I started and jerked back. The face laughed, then got to its knees and hauled me to my feet. I was well and truly awake now, and I glared at the people in front of me. I wobbled precariously, it was surprisingly hard to stand with your feet tied together. But with the help of the hands holding my shoulders I managed to stay on my feet. 

I opened my mouth and tried to say something but flem clogged my throat and the only sound that came out of my mouth was a hoarse croaking noise. The company in front of me laughed in unison. 

I cleared my throat of gunk and said in the most pissed off voice I could muster, “Who are you?” 

I knew deep inside of me it was Robin Hood and his Merry men but I asked the question because I really wished it wasn’t. 

Nobody answered, but instead the person in the middle stepped forward into the light. It was Robin. His round, baby face made it seem as if he was unable to do any kind of bad deed. His menacing smile said otherwise. 

He bowed slightly, his hand placed on his chest. 

“I” he announced “Am Robin of Locksley. Though” He said almost sadly “Most commonly known as Robin Hood these days, these” He gestured to the men standing behind him “Are my Merry men” 

The men puffed out their chests, proudly. I rolled my eyes. 

“Is that a good enough introduction?” 

He sauntered closer, scuffing his feet along the ground. 

“I think it’s only fair that we get a proper introduction from you” 

Robin looked me in the eyes and stared. I held his gaze. 

“Since we seem to be bumping into each other all the time, I think it’s time we became acquaintances, I like to know my enemies” 

I set my jaw. “My names is Miles, I am a soldier at the castle” 

Robin twirled his hand, telling me to continue 

“That is all I am willing to say” 

Robin chuckled 

“Do you really think you’re in a position to be saying what you want to do or not?” Growled John. 

“That is all I am going to say,” I said firmly. 

“Fine, that’s okay with me” John let go of my shoulders, I wobbled for a second but managed to keep my balance. 

“Let’s take him outside” Said Robin over his shoulder as he walked into the light. 

John grabbed me around the waist and lifted me off my feet, over his shoulder and carried me fireman style outside. He placed me by the foot of a tree, I saw I was in the same clearing as before. 

But now the ground had been lifted up. A ten by ten meter squared patch was raised from the ground at one end. The other end was still connected to the ground. A deep hole had been dug under the raised ground. Inside there seemed to be what looked like a house. 

There was surfaces covered in blankets and a whole wall dedicated to a large collections of weapons. A lavish rug lay on the floor to give it a more homely feeling. 

The mouse looking man, Much walked towards me, he had a look in his eye and I genuinely thought he was going to throttle me. But instead he reached behind my back and untied the rope binding my hands. 

But before I could do anything, Much grabbed my arms and Robin re-tied them in front of me. I struggled, trying to hit one of the men in front of me but they jumped out of the way laughing. 

A man, whom I had never seen before, came forward holding a long piece of rope. Then Robin and Much held my hands above my head and the unknown man laced the rope between my binds and then wrapped the rope around the tree twice before tying it off. I was forced up against the tree, my back pressing up against the bark. 

Much reached down and untied my feet, I kicked at him but only managed to catch the side of his chest before he jumped out of the way. I pulled at my binds and thrashed for a few seconds but to no avail. The ropes were too strong. 

“What do you want?” I yelled “What is it you want from me?” 

I was tired, hungry, sore and scared. I slumped in my binds. My stomach growled so loudly, that if there were bears in this forest I would have believed that the noise had been from a bear and not from my stomach. 

I was used to being hungry but recently Lily and I had been eating almost every night and my stomach had gotten used to the luxury. It complained for food. 

“Okay I will tell you what we want from you.” Said Robin sitting down on a tree stump “We want information. You mentioned you were a soldier, we could use your help. We just want some answers and then you can be on your way” 

I looked at him suspiciously “I’m not going to tell you anything” 

“Well then” He said sighing “You’re just going to have to stay here” He looked around at his gang. 

“Alan, why don’t you get a fire started and Much and I will start getting the meat ready, Will you stay here and keep a watch on our guest, John, why don’t you go and look for some wood?” 

Everyone muttered in agreement and went off to do their assigned jobs. Will (The man whom I didn’t recognize) sat down on the tree stump that Robin had sat on. For many minutes we sat in silence, I stared at the ground.   
I tugged at the rope once and Will poked me with a stick. 

“A soldier huh?” 

I looked over to Will who was prodding the ground with his stick absentmindedly. When I didn’t reply he looked up at me 

“I mean last time we saw you, you were a street urchin, one of the skinniest kids I’d ever seen. How did a kid like that become a soldier? If I’m being honest I hardly even recognize you” 

I considered ignoring him but if I was on the good side of at least one of the Merry Men then there was less chance of something bad happening to me. Anyway there didn’t seem to be any harm in some idle chit chat. 

“Well, once John uh how do I say, beat the crap out of me, I was taken by a couple of soldiers to the castle and ah I got trained to be a soldier” 

Will looked impressed “Just like that? It took me many months to be accepted as a soldier” 

I nodded “Nottingham is short of compatible men at the moment” Will nodded with agreement. 

“So where are you? Are you still a foot soldier?” 

“Yeah” I lied. 

“You look pretty good for a foot soldier” 

I laughed “Thanks, there was… too many lieutenants” 

Will looked at me as if he was going to press further but Robin called him over. “Will, come here, pass us your knife” 

He got up and fished a six inch knife from a scabbard which hung at his belt. I watched Robin and his gang as they sat around the fire that Alan had started. They joked and laughed as Robin and Much gutted a couple of rabbits. 

They didn’t seem like the dangerous thieves and criminals they were. They seemed like good people, like a group of friends and in that moment I wondered if they really were as bad as everyone made them out to be. I shook my head. 

“No” I thought to myself. “They are dangerous and criminals, they have kidnapped me and they kidnapped Lily before. I mustn't get soft” 

I twisted my hands in my binds, the rope burns on my wrists fueled the fire burning in my stomach. My heart beat rose and I felt ready to fight the world. I closed my eyes and tried to calm down, there was no good going to come from being angry. I concentrated on the crackling of the fire and the mild hum of the The Merry Men talking. 

I opened my eyes five minutes later and thought I’d gone blind, but then my eyes adjusted and I realized I was just being dramatic. The sun had begun to set and the canopy of trees restricted most light that could have made its way down into the forest. The only real light was coming from the fire which was set up about twenty meters away from me. The light hardly reached me, and none of the warmth did. 

I shivered, my clothes covered most of my body and they retained quite a lot of warmth but even so it was a cold night. I could see my breath in the air. 

The smell of cooking meat wafted over to me, my stomach rumbled and my mouth filled with saliva. 

I hoped Lily was okay. I hoped she was warm and had food to eat. I hoped someone had come and seen her and told her why I wasn’t going to be coming home today. I hoped she wasn’t worrying too much. I hoped she’d had the good sense to go and spend the night as Mrs Chadwick's house. I hoped Jacob had gone and alerted the Captain and a search party was looking for me. And most of all I hoped everything would turn out okay. That I would return home with little to no injuries. That Robin Hood and the Merry men would be caught and Nottingham would be safe again. 

I felt someone in front of me. I opened my eyes, standing before me stood a dark figure. He held a light in his left hand, the flickering flame cast dark shadows over the angles of his face. 

Robin sat down on the tree stump. He held a wooden plate. He looked at me, I looked at him. We sat there in silence for a long time. 

“Would you like some food?” He asked finally. 

I wet my mouth and nodded. Robin stood, he forcefully stabbed the torch in the ground. 

“Are you going to feed me?” I laughed. 

“Well I’m not going to untie you am I? It’s too dark for us to keep an eye on you” 

“Fair enough” I opened my mouth and Robin shoveled the food in. I chomped it down.

“Thanks” I said through a mouth full of food. 

“You want some water?” 

I nodded. 

Robin went back to the fire, he came back a few seconds later holding a water skin. Robin held it to my lips and tipped water into my mouth. I drank as much as I could before Robin took it away. 

“Thanks,” I said again. 

Robin went to walk away but turned back. “Try to get some sleep, I know it’s not comfortable but just try your best.” And with that he left.


	12. Chapter 12

I woke early. The loud chirping of birds broke through the barrier of sleep. 

It took me a few seconds to realize where I was, before the events of last night came flooding back. A crick in my neck from sleeping slumped against the tree, was violently shooting pain down my spine and into my head. 

The clearing was empty. The hole in the ground had been covered over and I was alone. 

I looked at my hands above my head, my shoulders ached from the constant lifting. My wrists were sore from the rope relentlessly rubbing at my skin. I shivered, it was even colder this morning than it had been last night. 

My breath created a heavy fog which whirled around my head before disappearing into the surrounding air. I stomped my feet trying to regain some warmth in my poor toes, but I only resulted in giving myself ground shock. 

I pulled at the ropes around my wrists just in case they’d somehow weakened during the night. They hadn’t. 

***

The next few hours passed slowly, the sun crawled above the horizon and the birds chirped even louder. My mouth grew drier and drier. The heat steadily climbed higher and I wished I could take off a layer of my clothes. 

The sun was high in the sky before Robin or his gang made any noise. I was dozing when a loud creaking noise woke me from my slumber. I thought for a second there was an earthquake but when a large patch of the ground lifted from the rest I realized what was going on. 

John came out first, he yawned and shielded his eyes from the harsh light of the sun. The rest trailed out behind him all stretching and yawning as if they’d only just woken up. 

I watched as they all wandered about the clearing getting on with their morning routines. Many of them trailed off into the forest for a couple minutes to take a leak. Will started a fire and heated some water over it in a pot. Robin got a knife and started to peel a potato he had pulled out of a sack. Once peeled he threw them in the boiling pot of water. The group of five slowly trailed back to the fire and began doing their jobs. 

They worked together seamlessly, each knowing exactly what they needed to do and relying on the others to do theirs. I watched in silence as John mashed up the potatoes, Will sliced up a loaf of bread and slathered each piece in a hearty helping of cheese. I tried to stop my mouth from watering but it was no use, cheese was my weakness. 

Cheese was expensive because it was hard to make and it had been a rare luxury at home. In eight years we had had it only three or four times. Much ducked back into the hole and came back out a few seconds later with a stack of plates. 

They piled the potatoes on evenly and helped themselves to slices of bread. I twitched agitated, hoping one of the men would remember me, because there was no way I was saying anything. 

Robin suddenly looked over at me. His head snapped around and we locked eyes. His face fell and he groaned. Much, who was sitting next to him looked at Robin questioningly. 

“What?” Much asked. 

Robin gestured to me “I thought it had been a bad dream” He shook his head and ran his hands through his hair “A soldier, we kidnapped a soldier? Why did we do that? Out of all the jobs you had to be a soldier?” 

The question wasn’t really aimed at me but was more of a rhetorical question. Much stood up, his left hand cradling his right and proclaimed proudly 

“You could have asked me, my arm is still killing me. I think it’s broken” 

Robin patted Much on the back “My dearest friend I think you will be alright” 

Robin looked over at John who had just finished his potatoes and bread. 

“John would you be so kind as to untie him and bring him over here? Just don’t let him get away” 

John brushed his hands on his pants and stood, before making his way over to me. He untied the rope from around the tree, my hands fell down and thumped against my body. I let out a sigh of relief, the constant lifting had caused my shoulders to strain and now they were in a lot of pain. John grabbed me by the arm and pulled me over to the fire. He stopped me by a seat and pushed my shoulders down forcing me to take a seat. 

“Here” Said Robin, handing me a plate “Take some food” 

I grabbed the plate and Robin piled the plate full of food. I laid the plate on my lap and ate with my hands. It was quite difficult with my hands tied together but I didn’t care, I was starving and like I’d said before I love cheese. 

John sat right next to me on the left, Djaq sat to my left, he continued to eat his breakfast. I finished and wiped my mouth, it felt good to have proper food in my stomach. Robin handed me a cup and I downed it greedily, he refilled it. I thanked him and sipped this one slowly. 

“So” I said between swallows “What happens now? I suppose you’ll have to kill me.” I hadn’t even thought about it but somehow my mouth still voiced this concern. 

Robin's shoulders slumped and he looked at the bottom of his bowl, poking the last remains of his food gloomily. 

“No, no. we’re not going to kill you. You don’t have to worry about that. I suppose you stay here till you give us some useful information” 

“I already told you” I snapped “I know nothing of importance, I am a foot soldier and nothing more. I am told nothing, I have to do what I am told and obey orders” 

Robin sighed and rubbed his eyes. “It’s too early for this” 

I looked up, the sun was high in the sky. 

‘It’s at least midday’ I thought, but didn’t say anything. 

Robin took a deep breath and stood up. 

“Right has everyone finished? I’d planned to stock up on supplies today. Seeing as we have the kid here, there will most likely be a search party today or tomorrow and we need to be ready for staying underground of the next few days” 

The merry men nodded in unison. There was no need to clean the bowls as everyone had licked them clean. 

Each man ducked inside the hole and came out fully clothed and armed. Most of them had swords and bow and arrows but some had spears slung across their back. I stayed sitting. John grabbed me under the arms and hoisted me to my feet. 

He then walked me back to the tree I had been tied to before. I groaned and mentally prepared myself for more hours of pain. My shoulders screamed as John raised my hands above my head and lased the rope through my bonds. 

Robin held the water skin to my lips. I glared at him. Mad. He rolled his eyes. 

“I know you’re angry I will spend the day trying to figure out what to do, we'll discuss it when we come back but right now I don’t know how long we'll take so have a drink so you don’t die from dehydration.” 

Reluctantly, I drank. Everyone trailed off in different directions obviously knowing what they had to look for, they’d probably had to do this a few times. 

Finally alone, I set about undergoing the plan that had been slowly forming in my mind. I thought if I moved my hands back and forth, the rope would rub against the tree and wear out, causing it to break. 

I yanked my hands to the left, the rope slid ever so slightly. I then pulled my hands to the right. I worked the rope from right to left stopping every five minutes or so to catch my breath. Every now and again the rope would rub hard against my wrists and I bit my tongue trying not to cry out in pain. 

It had been over an hour and a half and I was still going at it. I had expected the rope to be easy to break, but the rope was heartier than I had thought. 

The sun was near the horizon when I heard the sound of footsteps. I stopped trying to wear down the rope immediately. I winced as I felt a warm trail of blood trickle down my wrist and make its way into my jacket sleeve. 

From the left of the clearing appeared D’jaq, he was holding a large pile of thin dry branches in his arms. The rucksack on his back was bulging, full from his day of scavenging. He glanced over at me with a bored expression on his face. He walked over to the middle of the clearing, he dumped the pile of firewood beside him.

“Anyone else back?” D’jaq called. He looked at me “Well? Has anyone else come back?” 

I shook my head. D’jaq nodded as if expecting that answer. He sat on a log and set about working on the fire. He rubbed two sticks together trying to create a flame. Completely by itself my mouth opened and it began to talk.   
“I can help with that if you’d like” I froze completely, shocked that I had just spoken. 

D’jaq looked up. I cursed myself but there was no stopping now. I nodded down to my jacket pocket. 

“I have a fire starter in my pocket if you’d like to use it” 

D’jaq looked weary. 

“I can’t do anything, I’m all tied up” He stood and walked over to me. “In my left pocket” 

D’jaq fished around in my pocket for a couple seconds before producing the fire starter that The Captain had given me over a year ago. He looked at it confused and unsure what to do. 

“You strike them together quickly to create a spark” I explained. 

D’jaq quickly flicked them together. Nothing happened, “What are you tryi-” 

“Just try again, do it faster and harder” I said, cutting him off before he could finish his complaint. 

D’jaq pressed his lips together with annoyance but tried again. 

I twirled my hands to encourage him to continue. The third time a small spark. D’jaq yelped and dropped the starter. I chuckled. D’jaq looked suspiciously at me before reaching down and picking it up. 

“Are you sure this isn’t dangerous?” 

I nodded “Positive”. 

D’jaq flicked the starter again. This time a bigger spark erupted from the flint and stone and they scattered on the ground before dying out. 

“Now just do it close to something flammable” 

D’jaq went back to the fire pit and crouched down. 

He hit the flint and stone together, it took him five tries to get a spark big enough to ignite the tinder. D’jaq blew on the quickly burning tinder, bringing the flames to life. He brought the tinder to a pile of thin small sticks. He added a handful more tinder and before long the sticks had caught fire as well. He then slowly added bigger and bigger logs until a fully fledged fire was crackling and blazing away in the middle of the clearing.

D’jaq then set up a massive spit above the fire. 

From his backpack he then pulled out a dozen or so dead rabbits. He then proceeded to skin and gut them. I watched as he methodically cut the skin off the small animals bodies and then sliced them open. The slippery guts spilled onto the ground. It took around half an hour for him to skin and gut the small animals. He then dragged inerds off into the trees. 

He came back a few minutes later having rid himself of the guts. He then pierced two rabbits with the spit and put them close over the fire. It took ten to fifteen minutes to cook. He then took the rabbits off and lay them on the wood beside him. 

Fifteen minutes seemed far too long to leave the rabbits over the fire. The meat would be hard and chewy. Almost inedible. D’jaq proceeded to do this to the remainder of the rabbits. 

Suddenly a piercing whistle cut through the tranquil serenity of the clearing, it changed pitch three times before tapering out. D’jaq lifted his head and repeated the same whistle. There was a rustle in the trees and Will stepped out, closely followed by Much. 

“I’ve been waiting out there for half an hour waiting for one of you to come along” 

D’jaq and Will looked at each other, Will snorted but started to cough to cover it up. D’jaq giggled lightly and turned away to cover his smile. Will sat down on the log next to D’jaq. 

“Then why don’t you learn to whistle?” 

“You know I can’t!” Whined Much “You know it would be so much easier if we changed it-” 

Both D’jaq and Will didn’t even bother to hide their laughs this time. 

“We’ve been over this before Much whistling can be mistaken for a bird if we clap like you suggested it would be very conspicuous” 

Much mumbled something about the unfairness but he sat down next to Will and didn’t say anything more. 

Over the next hour or so the rest of the Merry Men turned up, each having filled their backpacks to the extreme. 

Will bundled firewood, wrapping twine around large roles of sticks. John began to use an axe and chop up the bigger pieces of wood Will had collected. Allan began lining up waterskins, about seven along and three across. 

Once he did that he began to put Will’s piles of wood into the hole. 

Robin, who had come back with a massive material bag. He began to unpack his bag. He took out piles and piles parcels. They were wrapped in oil paper to keep the products fresh. He opened and checked the food before wrapping it up again and putting them back in the bag. 

There was blocks of cheese and loaves of bread. A sack of potatoes came out from the bottom of the bag. Robin looked over at me.   
“You better be grateful boy, I had to spend an extra twenty coins to get enough food for you” 

I chuckled. I rolled my shoulders trying to stop the ancy feeling that was setting itself in my bones. 

I had been standing still for a very long time and I wasn’t used to not moving. Even when standing on guard, it was only for four to six hours. 

The rope rubbed against my raw wrists, I winced and bit my tongue trying not to cry out. Robin looked at me. His eyebrows furrowed. 

“What’s wrong?” He packed the last parcel into the big bag. 

“Nothing,” I muttered. 

Robin stood and walked over to me. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked again. 

“Nothing” I said almost forcefully. 

If Robin saw the rope burn he might notice the rope was fraying and my escape plan would be next to not happening. Robin moved closer inspecting me. He pulled down the rim of my jacket, he winced. 

“Ouch” Dried and fresh blood coated my sleeves. “What did you do?” 

I glared at him and didn’t reply. 

“If I untie you do you promise not to run?” 

I nodded. 

Robin fiddled with the rope binding my wrists. The rope slackened and my hands fell to my sides. I could feel tendrils of blood making their way down my fingers and dripping off my finger tips onto the ground. 

Robin grabbed my forearm tightly and pulled me over to the fire pit. He gently pushed me next to John and sat down very close to my other side. 

Robin rolled up my sleeves and hissed through his teeth. It was both worse and better than I expected. My skin had torn and blood was smudged all the way up to my elbow. The surrounding skin was sore and swollen and red, but it felt a million times worse. 

“You stay here” Said Robin, standing up. 

The rest of the merry men continued with their tasks. 

Robin ducked under the roof and returned a couple seconds later holding a water skin, a bowl, a cloth and a sack full of something. Robin sat back beside me and poured a cup or so of water into the bowl. He corked the waterskin and laid it down beside me. He then dumped the sack into the water, then moved it up and down like you would with a tea bag. 

“Salt” Robin said as if that explain everything he was doing. 

“What?” I coughed. 

“Salt” He repeated “You put salt in water to sterilize it and it helps clean wounds” 

“Oh” I said simply. 

Next Robin soaked the cloth and squeezed most of the excess water out of the cloth. He gently grabbed my wrist. I jerked back as he touched the raw skin. 

“Sorry. Sorry” 

He took my wrist again avoiding sore, bloody skin. 

“This is going to sting a bit but I promise you it’s doing good.” 

He pressed the wet cloth on my rope burn. I hissed and jerked back. 

Robin held my wrist tight, “I know, I know” 

Robin continued to wipe away the blood. I grimaced and bit my cheek. He twisted the bloody water out of the cloth and dunked it back into the salt water in the bowl. He did the same with my other wrist. Once Robin stopped he let my hands go. My wrists throbbed. 

“You look exhausted” Laughed Robin. 

I nodded. Suddenly there was a commotion in the trees. Much came scrambling through the surrounding brush. I hadn’t even noticed he’d gone. Fear plastered his face. His face was covered in sweat and it looked like he’d run a long way very quickly.   
“Soldiers” He managed to spit out, before collapsing to the ground gasping for breath.


	13. Chapter 13

Everyone shot to their feet. 

“Where?” Asked Robin. 

“A couple kilometers North. On horses, a hundred maybe more. They’re moving quickly” 

“This fast, I thought we’d have a few more hours at least, they must really want you back kid” 

He went over to Much and helped him to his feet. 

“D’jaq put out the fire quickly and scatter the burnt wood, John finish putting everything in, Will go and get the rope from around the tree. Allan you make it look like no one’s been here. I’ll sort out the kid.” 

Everyone jumped into action. I sat there watching the Merry Men going about their business. Robin pulled me to my feet by the scruff of my shirt and pushed me into the pit. Will ducked under and joined us holding the long piece of rope. 

“Please don’t” I choked “Please” 

Robin hesitated, rope in hand. 

“I suppose once the roof is closed you can’t get out by yourself” 

Robin put down the rope and instead held my arm tightly. 

D’jaq came in his hands blackened from soot. The rest of the Merry Men followed. Little John placed his hands on the roof just at the entrance, while Alan removed the large wooden stakes that held it up. John slowly lowered the roof to the ground. 

Robin let go of my arm. Everyone let out a sigh of relief. There was a small flare as a lantern was lit, in the dim light I could see D’jaq blowing out a burning stick. 

No one made a noise, the only noise was the deep breathing of the Merry Men. A few minutes later the ground began to rumble. I recognised it as the sound of horses. A sudden thought of stupidity flashed across my mind and before I knew it I had opened my mouth and began to scream, banging my hands against the wooden roof. 

“Help! Help! I’m here I’m under here, HEL-” 

That was all I managed before a large hand covered my mouth. I continued to scream but the hand smothered my cries for help. 

John wrapped his other arm around my neck and squeezed my windpipe. I choked and grasped at his arm, trying to claw at his skin. John might as well have been a rock, that’s how much damage I did to him. 

Thirty seconds later the rumbling stopped. John let go of me and I collapsed to the ground gasping for breath. 

I rubbed my sore neck and weezed. Robin and his gang surrounded me. The Merry Men didn’t seem so merry now. I gulped and wished I’d kept my mouth shut. 

“Tie him back up” Robin said disgusted. I scrambled backwards. 

“No” I pleaded. 

Robin looked away and rubbed his face, sighing. He looked stressed. 

John grabbed my arms and spun me around. He used the rope to tie my hands back together in front of me. A small grunt escaped my mouth. 

John picked me up and placed me on a dirt platform. Will placed a large cloth in my mouth. I gagged. Will looked at me sadly. 

I glared at him. Will sighed and sat next to me. I leaned away from him, just so I could do something defiant. He waited a few seconds before speaking. 

“Kid” He said “I know you’re scared, and-and I know you’re fed up. I know. Out of everyone here I know the most. Just hold out. We’re trying to figure this out. It makes it 100 times more complicated that you’re a soldier. We- We’re trying to sort this out.” 

“You could just let me go, I don’t remember how I got here” I said in my head. 

I looked at Will and tried to transfer my thoughts to his brain. It obviously didn’t work as he sighed and stood up. 

I hadn’t noticed before but the hole was a lot bigger than I had originally thought. It extended further than the part in the ground that lifted up. There was a sudden meter drop, everyone made their way down and jumped the short drop down to the lower section. 

From where I sat I could make out very little. There was a massive table stood by the wall, it looked handmade so I assumed that it was made down here. I could see lanterns that were hung on the walls to make a dark yellow homely atmosphere. A row of straw stuffed mattresses sat by the end wall, they look comfortable and well used. The blankets looked thick and warm. Much, who was holding the light, hopped down the drop and left me in the dark. There was a faint light coming from the sleeping area. 

I was in no fit state to do anything but lie down and sleep. I did try to stay awake but I could feel my eyes drooping. The past few days were catching up with me. 

I was exhausted, my body felt ten times heavier than normal. My shoulders ached, my feet felt like there were 1000 blisters on them. I closed my eyes and lay down on the dirt platform that I had been forced to sit on. I sighed. My body relaxed for the first time in days. And with that I fell asleep.

***

It seemed I had only been asleep 30 minutes before I was rudely awakened by rough hands shaking me. My heavy eyelids refused to open for many seconds but when the hands wouldn’t stop I grudgingly opened them. 

“Wakey, wakey sleepy head. Rise and shine” Said the hands. 

Okay maybe the hands didn’t say that but more like the person they were connected to but I didn’t know who they belonged to so the hands did the talking. 

I struggled into a sitting position and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness I could just make out the blurry outline of the merry men. 

A sudden explosion of light erupted in my eyeballs and I let out a yelp of pain. There was some light chuckling from the merry men as I held my palms to my eyes. I let a little light through my fingers, then a little more until I had completely removed my hands and could see again. 

“Right, men” commanded Robin “We’re only going out for a couple minutes, do your business, stretch, soak in a little sun. Then we're going back inside, so prepare yourself for a couple days underground.”  
Everyone nodded, stretching and yawning. 

A hand grabbed my bicep and wrenched me to my feet. Robin pulled the rag out of my mouth. I sucked in a deep breath, licking my mouth trying to regain the moisture that had been taken away by the cloth. 

“Thank you” I croaked. “Can I, uhh..” I said embarrassed, suddenly realizing how full my bladder was “Can I go to the toilet?” 

Robin laughed, “Quickly”.

Robin guided me by my arm to the edge of the clearing. “Behind the tree, but don't try anything”

I shuffled behind the appointed tree and peed against it. 

I briefly thought about making a run for it. But with my hands tied I doubted I would make it far.   
Once I finished, Robin handed me over to John before going to relieve himself. 

“Soak it up boy” said John slapping me on the shoulder, nearly knocking me over. “The next time you see this it'll be tonight. Only twelve hours underground” He laughed. 

“Alright, hope you’ve had your fill, everyone back inside.” Yelled Robin 

Everyone trailed back inside, glancing regretfully at the shining sun that they wouldn't be seeing till the next morning. 

Once inside, John lowered the roof on top of us. Lanterns flickered, illuminating the walls and ceiling, creating a disorientation effect. Everyone sat down on various platforms and started to talk quietly.

Will took a seat next to me, he was silent for a few minutes. 

“Do you promise not to try and escape if I untie you?” said Will quietly.

I nodded, not looking up. Will fiddled with the rope binding my wrists. My weary shoulders creaked as I rolled them. I shuffled backward till I reached a wall, I then leaned against it, exhausted. 

Not only physically but emotionally as well. Will sat next to me and crossed his legs leaning his head cautiously against the wall, as if he wasn't sure if he was wanted. My head swung to look at Will as he started talking. 

“Look kid, don't tell anyone but I personally think you should be let go” 

I looked at him, shocked “What?”

“I don't think you're too much of a risk, you're just a kid, and you're only a foot soldier at that. You can't do that much harm if we were to let you go. We're so far in the middle of the forest that I doubt you would ever be able to find us again.”

I nodded knowing this was true. There was a moment of silence where I thought about thanking him, but Will started taking before I could even open my mouth.   
“Hey kid, I've been meaning to ask you. Why do you hate us so much?” he asked. His voice was so sincere and genuine that I thought he was mad. 

Did he have any idea who I was and who they were? I was a soldier and he was one of the most wanted men in all of England. I opened my mouth, then closed it again before saying. 

“You. You're a member of the infamous merry men. You steal from His Highness the Prince, and I, I work for him.” 

Will laughed and I stared at him questioningly.

“When we first met you, you were one of the skinniest kids I have ever seen, you had some God awful scraggy clothes and you looked like you hadn't bathed in a year. I would have pegged you as a pro Robin man but there you are, ready to fight a massive man like John.” 

I chuckled to myself quietly. He continued.

“So my question to you Miles is why do you hate us? What is your reasoning?”

I sucked in my lips, debating on whether or not to give him a reason. In the end, after thirty seconds or so I gave in. 

“Firstly, I have a little sister and at that time life was rough. Or rougher than it is now and we had no money. I couldn't get a job because I used to regularly hunt in the forest. And because I sold it to the people in my town, everyone knew it and didn't really want anything to do with me. So I was desperate, I needed a job and the castle was hiring so I thought the best way for them to notice me was to.” I chucked “Stupid idea I know. Now that is an experience I would rather forget.” 

In my minds eye I could see John on top of me, pressing the air out if my lungs and beating the absolute shit out of me. “During my time as a soldier I was told horror stories of how Robin and his gang stole from the sheriff and kept it all for themselves. So I already kind if hated you when you kidnapped my sister”

Wills head snapped around to look at me “What do you mean?” He asked, his eyebrows low over his eyes. 

“About a year and a half ago, my sister and I had an argument, I left and when I got back she was gone. We found her hours later tied to a tree. We just assumed it was you. All the signs pointed to you, in the forest, breaking the law, there was no one else it could be.”

Will shook his head, flabbergasted. His mouth resting in his chest. 

“When was this?” He asked, his voice getting higher.

I told him everything I knew about the event, which really wasn't much. Will scrambled up from where he was sitting and went over to Robin who was sitting, talking to Much by the fire. 

Will whispered something, quick and hushed. Robin glanced over at me before whispering back. There was a quiet conversation between them before Will straightened up and walked back over to me, his body tense, and his arms close to his sides. 

He hesitantly opened his mouth, sighed, closed it again before saying shakily. 

“Uh, so I used to be a soldier. I betrayed Robin for some gold.” He looked at his feet. “Yeah, I know, anyway I became friends with a couple of guys. We meet pretty regularly and one guy let slip that a Sergeant was planning a kidnapping. I didn't really think of it, he was drunk, so was I, so it slipped my mind. When I heard a little girl was kidnapped it didn't even cross my mind but now as you've mentioned it, it seems pretty obvious.”

I didn't know what to think. All this time I'd just assumed it had been the Merry Men. I shook my head. ‘Wait’ I thought to myself ‘Why am I believing these guys?’ 

This bunch of outlaws? Yet there was something about the way he spoke and the sincerity in his eyes that made me think he was lying. 

“What are you telling me?” I croaked.

“I'm telling you two things. One. We did not kidnap your sister. And two. I think we know who did.”


End file.
